


The Devil in You

by Rainpebbles



Series: The Impala Series [3]
Category: Firefly, Supernatural
Genre: Crazy Castiel, Crossover, Destiel - Freeform, M/M, Sabriel - Freeform, Slow Burn, firefly!verse
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-09
Updated: 2016-01-09
Packaged: 2018-05-12 19:48:01
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 13
Words: 23,039
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5678452
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rainpebbles/pseuds/Rainpebbles
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Part III of The Impala Series. Firefly/SPN Xover. Dean and his crew are on a salvage mission on a broken ship where they pick up a survivor from some sort of attack. The new stranger brings far more trouble than anyone was ready for. Now Dean has to try and hide three fugitives from Garrison forces while dealing with hidden monsters. Hints of Sabriel, Developing Destiel.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Sorry for the long wait! I'm in the middle of wedding planning and it's been....well you aren't planning a wedding unless you consider eloping several times a week!  
> Thank you for the wonderful comments too! They keep me motivated!  
> Hearts and Hugs!!!!!!!!!!!

Notes: Ahhhh, the first chapter of part III Enjoy guys!

Disclaimer: Nope. Not mine.

CHAPTER 1

The hold of the Impala is buzzing with adrenaline and fight. Dean is slammed hard against one the walls, sweaty and panting, but his eyes are alight with the fire of a good fight. Sam, who is in a similar state slams against the wall next to Dean, his long hair practically plastered to his face with sweat. They stand there for moment, heaving shoulders touching, trying to catch their breath.

"Dude, we are so dead," Sam panted out.

"We still have a shot Sam. Don't give up yet," encouraged Dean. He slapped a friendly hand to his brother's back and pushed off the wall and back into the fray. He jumps onto the back of a perspiring Balthazar as he enters back into the fierce battle. Sam sighs dramatically and runs forward as well, to block Balthazar's pass of the ball to Gabriel. From somewhere on Sam's left, he hears his teammate Bobby's shout of availability.

"Pass it here boy, I think we've got them now!" The preacher never looked or sounded so young to Sam before, and he didn't disappoint the smiling Sheppard and passed the now stolen ball to him.

The whole game looks like some mutant version of ancient basketball, and Sam isn't actually sure what rules they are following besides having two teams, and the goal is to get it in the basket. Anything else seemed to be fair game….like how Gabriel is now on Balthazar's shoulders blocking Sam's shot at the basket.

"C'mon Sammy, I think our strategy of getting our asses handed to us is finally starting to confound them!" Dean hadn't smiled this much in a long time.

Sam could hardly remember the sound of Dean's happy laugh until the last few weeks with the new crew. Sam couldn't even remember the last time that the original crew just played around. The very thought of it all warmed Sam all over. He hadn't even seen Dean drink for a while. He had been so used to seeing a cup in his brother's hand each time he went to bed. Sam knew he had nightmares and that the alcohol helped, but something seemed to be helping. And Sam had a few ideas as to what it was.

Off to the sidelines are Meg, Anna and Castiel. Anna is laughing happily at the chaos on the "field" and at the antics of the team members while Meg is trying her hardest to look uninterested with the activity, but anyone can see her gaze drawn to the game every few seconds. Some could even see how she perked up every time one of the teams neared the net.

Castiel is simply confused. There seemed to be no pattern or rules to this game and it was mind boggling to him. He was able to figure out the teams at least. It seemed to be Gabriel, Balthazar and Chuck vs. Dean, Sam and Bobby. Castiel was pretty sure that his brother's had cheated multiple times during this game as he recognized a few of the tactics from their own games when they were children. He thought of informing Dean, but he was stopped every time when he saw how happy everyone was. He wouldn't interrupt that.

Castiel lifted his head further and widened his eyes, Gabriel, who was on Balthazar's shoulders again, had the ball and they were running awkwardly towards the make-shift basket, which Castiel was sure was just some old metal cylinder. Chuck looks like he is about to try and block Sam who was moving after the double stacked brothers, but thought better of it and decided to just move under the basket, waiting to try and retrieve the ball.

Sam is in front of Balthazar now and being so ridiculously tall he is easily able to knock the ball out of Gabriel's hands and towards Bobby who scoops it up quickly and moves closer to the basket. Dean has made his way closer to the goal and the ball is tossed to him from the preacher.

Castiel watches as Dean catches the ball deftly and simply launches over Chuck to slam the ball home! Castiel surprises himself by yelling in excitement along with Anna and the rest of Dean's team. Dean looked over at his yell to wink and return to playing, and Cas looked a little bashful.

Now Chuck had retrieved the ball from the floor and is dribbling over to Gabriel who he hands it off to.

"Somebody cover Sam!" Gabe shouts at his team members. Balthazar smirks as he runs over to the taller Winchester and replies, "It would take two of me to that and four of Chuck," he says jokingly over his shoulder.

"Guys, you're dampening my team spirit here," Chuck complains as his height is once again picked upon, Gabriel was shorter anyway, but he moves to help Balthazar. He had given up finishing his latest chapter where a demon lurked beneath the skin of an innocent man, to play this game with the crew.

With Sam out of the way, Gabriel easily sidesteps Dean and Bobby with an unnatural speed to make a basket. Off to the sidelines they hear more cheering.

Dean circles around to meet up with Sam and Bobby, "Don't suppose I could threaten firing him if he keeps on doing that?" He jokes with them, smile still in full effect.

"Suppose you could, but he's the only one who can really fly this bird," Bobby replies his teeth visible past his beard with his own huge smile.

Sam gave them both looks, "Man's got a point, Dean. Besides, he'd probably threaten crashing the ship right back at you." Dean considered this, and then turned back to the game, Sam was probably right like always. But he wouldn't tell him that.

He moves to play keep away with Balthazar who now has the ball. The posh man had surprised Dean at first with his athletic ability, but then again the whole family of Novaks was full of surprises. He shoots over Dean's head and it goes through the basket easily. While Sam is heckling Dean for letting him shoot, Bobby picks up the ball and with the agility of a man half his age, he moves past the Novak brothers and barrels through Chuck to make a score of his own. The cheerleaders on the sidelines shout even louder than any of the other baskets made.

With this score, Dean thinks that they have a chance, and he catches his next wind!

Beep beep beep!

An electronic beeping interrupts the game and everyone stops moving and cheering.

"Proximity alarm. Must be coming up on something," says Sam disappointed. He was really having fun, and he wanted this time for his brother. Behind him Gabriel let's out a comedic loud gasp and shouts in a panicked voice, "Oh no! What could it be!? We're doomed!" He runs over to Castiel and grabs him in a tight hug "Oh protect me Castiel! Who's flying this thing anyway?!"

A confused Castiel tries to move enough in his brother's hold to look at his face, looking extremely confused. Before he can reply to his older brother's outburst, Gabriel lets go and ruffles his hair again.

"Oh wait, that's me!" And he runs off to the bridge to investigate.

Shaking his head as the pilot disappears from sight Dean turns to Balthazar and Chuck, "Guess that leaves you guys a man short!" He grins at them evilly.

Meg piped up from the side, "They were a man short since they chose Chuck as their teammate."

"Play nice, Meg." Dean scolds lightly.

"Let's just wait till Gabriel gets back," Sam suggested and sits down to catch his breath. Chuck and Bobby following his example. Anna is now talking with Castiel, trying to convince him that Gabriel is not suffering from memory loss, just a bad sense of humor. Dean smirks at this and moves over to Balthazar.

He lowers his voice when he approaches the middle Novak brother, "So, how is he doing? It's been a few weeks now. Any improvement?"

Balthazar took a moment to respond, glancing at Castiel first, "He's good….Better I suppose. He has his days."

"Don't we all?"

"Perhaps. There are moments that he's the little brother that I used to know and tease….but then it passes and all I can see is the shell that was left behind. He still won't talk about what happened to him at the Host. Even Gabriel can't get him to open up about it." He looked so lost, thought Dean. Not unlike himself when Sammy has shown up after Jess had been killed. Dean hadn't known how to help his brother then.

"Maybe even he doesn't know for sure what happened?"Dean suggested.

"I can't even begin to imagine what the government could do to him that would…" He trailed off and took a breath to try and grab hold of his emotions again. "Did you know I supported Unification? I know that you fought in the war against it, but for us on the inner planets…it seemed like a good thing. I had faith in everything the Garrison told us. How they would solve all the world's problems. Right the wrongs, I believed in that. We even wanted to be a part of it at first." He glanced at Dean as if to gauge his reaction to this.

But Dean wasn't angry at all, "Things did get better for a lot of people, just not all of them."

Balthazar nodded back at Dean thankful for his understanding. "A few years ago, before Gabriel disappeared, I would have thought it unthinkable that I would be here, and not at my father's side running his business with my brothers. But I am…so grateful to you and Sam and….everyone else on this ship for letting us in, even with the danger we bring. I will try to help here, and I will try to help him," he promised.

"You are helping him. You got him out of there, you left your world behind…"

"I turned us both into wanted fugitives," Balthazar responded with a tone that sounded like he thought Dean was an idiot. But Dean paid it no mind.

"Well, we're all running from something I guess," Dean said while his eyes scanned over the crew in the hold. Suddenly, the entire ship lurches to one side and sends everyone sprawling.

Dean is the first one up again and looking around at his crew for any injuries. He helps up Balthazar who was next to him. He appears fine and heads over to his little brother to help pull him off of Anna who both look flustered at the position they found themselves in. Sam, Bobby and Chuck were already seated and had only toppled a little bit. Meg hopped up from her fallen position so fast she almost fell over again.

With everyone appearing okay, Dean was left to wonder, "What the hell was that?"


	2. Chapter 2

Notes: Hi hello! Chapter two is a go!

Disclaimer: I own nothing here!

CHAPTER 2

After he left the hold, Gabriel hopped up to the bridge to look over the radar screen and spotted the cause for the alarm. Out the window he can see it's a derelict ship around the same size as the Impala is rolling slowly in place out in the black. It looks like it's been shredded in some places. He frowns.

Gabriel slides into the pilots chair and absently flips off the proximity alarm and rests his hand on the controls to angle the Impala so that he could get a better glance at the damaged ship.

THUNK!

Suddenly a human body of a man bounces off the window in front of Gabriel and his hand slips on the controls, jerking the entire ship. He yells out in surprise and horror now that he sees that there are more than one bodies floating slowly near the broken down spacecraft.

Trying to slow his heartbeat back to a normal rate, he moves to reach for the comm. to call the captain up to see the wreck, but he doesn't have to as Dean and everyone tries to climb into the control room, Meg and Chuck staying in the hall due to the lack of space in the small room.

"Dude, Gabe! You have a stroke or something at the control?" Sam asked concerned.

"Just about Sammy-kins."

"What happened," asked Dean. Gabriel only gestures to the crowd to look out the window. At first there is no reaction, but then some of them spot the bodies. Balthazar grabs Castiel and moves him out of the room quickly, trusting the others to handle whatever is going on. Anna gasps and Chuck grabs for her hand. Bobby moves forward mumbling, "Wuh de mah" (Mother of God).

Dean moves up to the window. He looks past he bodies to take a look at the spinning ship and asks his pilot, "Anyone home?"

"I've been trying to hail her, but if the floating bodies are anything to go by….I don't think anyone is home to pick up the phone," replied Gabriel while checking for a response call for the tenth time.

"Bring us in closer."

Gabriel complies if not a bit reluctantly, and the ship starts to move closer to the mess of metal and flesh.

Chuck's voice quivered from behind, "Who…who are they?"

Out in the hallway where he is being led away by his brother, Castiel whispers, "Ghosts."

 

They were all surveying the damage as they got closer. Chuck even moved further into the room to better see the ship.

"So what are we thinking, guys? Transport ship that lost its luck?" Dean asked the crew.

Gabriel nods, "Yeah cargo hauler or short range scow, maybe."

"You can also tell that it lost its port thrust. That's why it's spinning like that," Chuck added.

"What's a short range cargo ship doing all the way out here" Anna asked, her eyes never leaving the carnage floating in front of the Impala.

"It's been retrofitted to carry passengers. You can see that because of the old welding marks on the cargo side of the ship," informed Chuck. The others in the room were surprised at how calm he seemed seeing all this, but they chucked it up to their mechanic finally growing comfortable around the crew.

Sam, always with the random knowledge answered her, "Travelers usually pick them up at government auctions. Fix them up right and they usually make it for a one way trip to an outer planet."

"Settelers," said Bobby in surprise as he realized what those people were.

"You could probably squeeze ten or fifteen families in there if you pack them tight enough," Sam added.

"Families?" breathed out Anna horrified.

Meg pushed forward past the pale companion, "I bet someone went crazy on board and killed them all while they slept. Only way to explain why so many bodies are floating around. He must have gotten sick of the smell."

Gabriel turned to look at her in disgust, "Well aren't you just a happy ray of sunshine."

The Sheppard turned to Dean serious, "Should we be reporting this?"

Dean barked out a short laugh. One very different from the laughs he was making just an hour ago. "And who would we report this to? The Garrison? I'm sure they would just fly right on over here with the flap of some wings and in the blink of an eye, just to make sure those fine taxpayers are okay."

Bobby was hardly impressed by the sarcasm of his captain. "Well then we'll have to check on them," he stated simply.

Meg shot up from her leaned position on one of the walls to look between Dean and the preacher. "You can't be serious. Do you not see the bodies floating around like dead fish in the water? If there was anyone else left in that tin can, they're sardines by now!"

Anna moved further into the room to at Meg's comment. "We can't know that for sure, Meg."

"I'm sorry princess, do you hear a distress beacon up in your castle that us mere peasants can't?"

Anna didn't have an answer to that, so she turned to Dean. Sam looked thoughtful at this and quickly looked up to his brother with his eyebrows raised.

"It's true. There is no beacon," stated Gabriel who was also looking to Dean pointedly.

Finally Dean caught on to their meaning and returned the look to Sam and Gabriel to let them know he understood.

"So nobody is looking for the ship…." He trailed off.

"Which is all the more reason to do the right thing," said the Sheppard satisfied.

"Then just send them a prayer as we ride right by," mumbled an anxious Meg.

Bobby just gave her a judging glare, "Need I remind you of the story of the Good Samaritan?"

She returned the glare, "I'd really rather you didn't."

"Well, whether you want to or not Meg, we are going to check it out."

"What are we a search and rescue tug boat now?" Meg was steadily losing patience at this point. That boat was giving her bad vibes and she was a big fan of self preservation.

Dean continued like he never heard her, "Bobby's not wrong, and we should stop in and check it out for any survivors. And if there aren't any…" He paused and smirked at Sam and Gabriel, "then perhaps we'll take a look around and see if there is anything of value they might have left behind."

The look on the Sheppard's face was far from impressed at this, but he didn't argue. The boys were resourceful, that was for sure. From behind him Meg snorted, "Yeah, fine. You're right. Someone could be hurt." If they had to investigate a floating tomb, they might as well get something out of it.

Dean slapped Gabriel on the shoulder, "Hook us up, we're boarding." And with that order the Impala moved through the debris towards the derelict ship.

 

Outside as the Impala slides up to the other ship a few tentacle-like wires snake out and attach themselves to their ship, completely silent.

 

Dean, Sam and Meg are all in the hold when Castiel moves into the room. The brothers are efficiently putting on the spacesuits and going through the tests to make sure they are all functioning properly. Their movements are so quick and sure, they must have done this many times before for it to look so natural.

He is about to walk up to them when Meg appears in front of him, half in her suit and her arms crossed.

"Where do you think you're going, Chuckles?"

Castiel wasn't sure why she was calling him that, he didn't laugh very often as far as he knew. But he answered her none the less. "I wanted to offer my services on the mission. Perhaps I can help if there are injured people on board. Or if they are sick I can make them soup, or read them stories…."He trailed off, mesmerized by the movements of the brothers as they got ready.

Fingers snapped in his face by Meg brought him back to reality abruptly; she was giving him a searching and curious look.

"Sam and Dean have got this covered for now. They'll call you if it's needed."

He nodded absently, his gaze was now drawn to the suits that the brother's were wearing. Meg shook his arm to bring his attention back, "Hey, Cracker Jacks. You still with me? What's got you all focused?" She was peering over at the Winchesters trying to see what was sucking up Castiel's attention. He decided to share his thoughts with her, perhaps she wouldn't be unkind this time.

"I'm just thinking about those suits. Isn't it amazing that a little bit of mylar and glass is enough to stop the human body they contain from having their lungs implode, suffocation and freezing to death. Barely a fraction of an inch separates them from….nothing." Castiel was dumbfounded by this and smiled in wonder at Meg, hoping she shared in his fascination.

She actually looked thoughtful at this and replied, "It's amazing what "nothing" could do to a man. You remember that guy we "bumped" into earlier? He's probably still hanging on the ship somewhere right now. That's what space trash does, ya know? It just latches on to the first big thing that floats by for long enough…Hey! You know, that's kinda like you and your brother isn't it." She laughs and crosses off to Sam and Dean to get her own suit checked out.

Castiel did find this thought fascinating….and very disturbing. Meg probably meant to scare him with it, but he had seen much worse. And as soon as the thoughts and memories hit, his face crumpled and his whole being seemed to shrivel. He ran off to where his plant was hidden with his trench coat fanning out behind him. He needed to continue working on the tangled vines…now. It was so frustrating how every time he had made progress, it seemed that it just became tangled in another place.


	3. Chapter 3

Notes: Hi guys! Quick chapter, but I hope you enjoy it anyway! AND OMAGOSH, I finally noticed that Ben Edlund, one of the writers of Supernatural actually wrote some of the episodes of Firefly XD How did I not know this!?

Disclaimer: Not mine, not mine, not mine….*sigh*

CHAPTER 3

They were all suited up and ready to go. The three Impala members were now standing in the airlock between their own ship and the broken cargo vessel. All that was between them and the potential house of horrors was a metal door, with a red light indicating that it was locked.

Through the head sets in the suits Dean called to Gabriel. "Okay Gabe, why don't you knock for us."

Back in the bridge Gabriel flips a few switches and calls back, "Ding Dong! Trick or treat?" His jovial attitude towards it all didn't make Sam feel any more comfortable going into this.

The light on the door turns green and Dean looks to his two companions to see if they are ready. They both hold their space-friendly weapons a little tighter in response. It's enough of an answer for Dean and he slides open the door.

The three of them fan out with their weapons held high and flashlights breaking through the darkness in the foreign ship. Behind them the air lock door slams shut automatically. Ship would only do that if it was running on emergency power, Sam noted mentally.

Stepping through the halls they see that most things look to be in order. The first thing they see out of place is a young girl's doll that is leaning to the side on one of the walls. Each of them glances at it before passing by. Sam and Dean try not to dwell on what that doll could mean.

Entering the dining area, they stop to really look around. Everything is in place and it looks like any kitchen, even like their own back on the Impala. Only this scene has passed the border of eerie and gone straight to disturbing, and they all know why.

The room is like a tableau of a normal day on the ship…with a meal all set out on the table. Each plate seemed to be consumed in various amounts. Ladles are still stuck in a pot of now moldy looking stew.

Sam blew out a breath, "Whatever happened here happened fast." He and Dean exchanged glances and moved out of the too still room, Meg following behind not saying a word and looking decidedly on edge.

Next they come up to this ship's bridge. It's reminiscent of the dining area where a half drunken coffee cup sits on one control panel next to an open book. No people or bodies anywhere.

Sam starts to look at the ship's logs and computers in the room while Dean and Meg move their flashlights searchingly around the room hoping to find some sign of life or some sort of answer. Sam is the first to find something of interest and reports to the others through his comm.

"Everything was left on here. Ship powered down on its own. I mean….there is no sign of a struggle or malfunction. Just…."

"Gone," Dean finished for him. Meg looked even more spooked and she checked around the cabin for a fifth time that minute.

"Dean, check this out." Sam indicated the computer log in front of him. Dean moved up behind his brother to peer over his shoulder.

"It's a personal log. Someone was in the middle of an entry." He looked to Dean as if waiting for permission to open it. A short nod from his brother, Sam went to open it.

The screen bursts with ear splitting static and all three of them bring their hands to their ears.

 

Back on the Impala Castiel jumps back from his plant with a sharp gasp and his while body breaks out in a cold sweat. Balthazar appears in the room and runs towards Castiel quickly, never far off from his brother at any point. He pulls the shaking Castiel into his arms and maneuvers them over to the nearest wall and sits him on the floor, kneeling right next to his baby brother with his hands still holding his trembling shoulders.

"Shhh. Shhh, Cassy. It's okay, I'm here. Did you have a nightmare? Flashback?" He keeps his voice soft and soothing as to not scare him any further.

He takes a moment to catch his breath to respond in a gasp, "No. I don't sleep. Too much screaming." He's shaking his head back and forth as if to shake off whatever was playing around in his head.

Balthazar continued to comfort him by rubbing his back soothingly. This action had never helped Castiel when he was a child and had nightmares, but for some reason after coming back from the Host he would practically melt under his hands when this was done. "There is no screaming Cassy." The sadness for his brother's state is written all over Balthazar's face.

Castiel turns to him, his eyes lucid once more and says darkly, "There was."

Balthazar holds his brother's gaze for a moment and then starts suddenly when Meg comes in behind them.

"Let's go Fancy Pants. Dean wants us both over there on the double." She is at the door and loading more weapons on her person than before. Balthazar frowns at this.

"Did you stumble upon anyone there?"

Meg shrugs. "He just wants us to help look around, so hurry up."

"Right, I'll see if Anna can keep an eye on Cassy. I'm not leaving him alone right now." He stops his rubbing of his back and stands. Castiel's eyes follow him up looking sad at the loss of contact.

"Whatever. You call your babysitter. I'm not waiting though. Just don't take too long or Dean will be pissed." And Meg walks off leaving the brothers alone again.

"Okay Cassy, why don't you stay right here and keep working on your plant. Anna will be by in a few minutes to sit with you. Will you be okay now?" Castiel moves over to his plant without looking at Balthazar and nods absently. It's enough for Balthazar and he reluctantly moves away to find Anna and report to Dean, but not before glancing at his little brother one last time.

 

Dean turns when he hears Balthazar coming into the hallway on the broken ship. He looks a little uncomfortable upon entering, but Dean has to agree that the atmosphere in here is somewhat eerie. It's still feels cold even though they were able to get the air pressure and heating on the ship up and going.

"Hey, lend us a hand here. Me and Sam are trying to get into the cargo hold at the moment, and then we may need help moving some stuff. Until then…" He tosses a large bag to the posh man. "You and Chuck look around for anything else useful. Let's be quick and then get the hell out of here." Chuck emerges from the shadows behind him looking pale and shaky. He doesn't seem to be any more happy than the rest of them at being here, but he takes the other offered bag and moves over to Balthazar.

"May I ask where all of the people are? I'd rather not run into any surprises," states Balthazar.

Sam spoke up, "The ship log shows a lifeboat launching about a week ago. We're assuming that everyone got off okay."

"But I thought there wasn't anything wrong with the ship at that time?" Chuck brought up confused.

Sam just shrugged. He couldn't explain it either. Dean chose that moment to bark out his next set of orders to break up the conspiracy circle. "Okay, you two take the engine room and see what Chuck can peel off this boat. Meg's in the dining area and then she'll probably root through some of the other rooms. Sam and I'll continue working on this door. Head out and don't wander." And they headed off.

Sam studied Dean. He could see how uncomfortable his brother was. This whole place made the back of his neck itch and he would bet that Dean was spooked as well. Usually Dean would be practically bouncing with the idea of getting free booty from a beached ship, but this time around everything felt wrong. And everyone was feeling it.

"Dean…I counted fifteen families signed on to this ship. I don't understand where they all could have gone, and what about those bodies outside of the ship?" He said softly to his brother.

"I don't know, Sam," Dean replied with a roughness to his voice. He then turned on his comm., "Hey Gabe, any luck?"

 

Back on the bridge Gabriel and Bobby are scrolling through the ship schematics.

"I think I might have found some more info. I found one layout map of a ship that looks pretty similar. Samsquatch was right, looks like any cargo would be stored on C-deck where you are now bludgeoning through. Give him a pat on the back-side for me!" Gabriel joked.

Dean's voice comes through the comm., "Eww. Do it yourself later. Anyway, good work and keep the motor running. Shouldn't be long now." And Dean cut off the call.

Gabriel swiveled around in his pilots chair to face a troubled looking Bobby.

"Something on your mind Preacher?"

"Well, I guess I can't say much for this business," Bobby admitted gruffly.

"It's abandoned." Gabriel reminded him with raised eyebrows.

Bobby continued his case, "And if that is because of the result of some kind of violence. Then that will make this ship a crime scene."

"Well if it wasn't before, it is now!"Gabriel laughs at the irony and Bobby chuckles after a beat. Damn, these boys would make a criminal out of him yet.

"Oh don't get cute."


	4. Chapter 4

Warnings: Somewhat graphic description of dead bodies…..Ya know, if that bothers you…

Disclaimer: I own nothing here, especially not the dead bodies.

CHAPTER 4

Anna slowly moves towards the room Balthazar had indicated earlier, carrying a tray of food. Apparently Castiel had decided that this room was the safest room for his plant as it was the last place Meg would venture. Anna had to agree with the troubled man. Chuck's official room was not a place the Meg would visit, ever. Even Chuck didn't come here often because he usually just slept in the hammock in the engine room where he could "hop to work in a jiffy". Chuck even kept his clothes and things in the grease pit and not in his room. As far as she knew the room only consisted of a bed, sink and dresser. A perfect place for Castiel to "nest" as Balthazar said jokingly.

She was smiling to herself as she knocked on the door to the room as she reached it. There was no response.

"Castiel, angel? It's Anna. Are you hungry, sweetie?" Anna opens the door slowly, "I brought you some…" She stops as she looks around the room. Castiel isn't there.

 

The airlock between the Impala and the derelict ship opens and Castiel walks through glancing around as he enters. He almost seems to be in a trance as he walks forward, barefoot with his long coat blowing around him at the change in air pressure. Looking ahead down one of the dark hallways, Castiel chooses a direction and follows that path deeper into the ship.

 

The door they had been working on for the last twenty minutes was almost finished. Sam was still working the blow-torch, crouching low to get at the bottom hinges. Dean didn't like that this was taking so long, but a locked door was always very promising for people like them. Seriously, who would lock a door this tightly unless there was something worth keeping behind it?

But Dean still couldn't shake the feeling that something was off, so he moved closer up behind Sam, keeping watch and gripping his colt a little tighter.

 

Chuck and Balthazar are working their way through the engine room. Chuck is muttering to himself making happy sounds every once in a while when he finds something useful or in good condition. Balthazar is simply poking around and grabbing any pieces that Chuck holds out to him wordlessly and trying to keep from getting any grease on his coat.

Sick and a bit uncomfortable with the lack of life on this boat, Balthazar decides to break the silence. "Aren't you curious?" He trails off.

Chuck grunts as he pulls free a particularly stubborn piece of machinery, "About what?"

"About what happened here? I mean, who would just up and leave their ship out here in the middle of bloody nowhere?"

Chuck simply shrugged and moved onto the next panel to start digging through the webs of wires. "All sorts of reasons…." He stops for a moment, looking closer at a particular panel. "But…just not mechanical it seems."

Balthazar looks at him curiously at this. Chuck noticed and continued, "Well, there doesn't seem to be anything wrong here. I mean, most of this stuff is like new." He sounded truly surprised at this. Balthazar was about to ask more questions but was cut off by a shout of pure joy from the mechanic.

"Ooh! Here's a good one!" He violently rips a very large and oily metal piece and shoves it at Balthazar. And questions he might have had dashed from his thoughts as he saw the damage done to one of his last shirts. He starts pestering Chuck about that instead.

 

Meg is digging through the dining area, picking up silverware and anything else shiny while snacking on some of the power bars she found in one of the drawers. Passing by one of the cupboards she stops and turns back to it. She reaches in and starts grabbing all of the plates that she sees. She had been getting tired of eating off of the metal disks that Chuck had made to replace all of the broken dishware that Castiel had broken.

She was pleased to see some of the plates were plastic, and therefore they might make it for a few weeks. She pauses in her pillaging as she senses something behind her and turns with her knife pulled out. Seeing nothing there, she turns back to the cupboard. She picks up one of the plastic plates and starts tapping it against the counter top, testing its strength.

 

Castiel continues to haunt the hallways. His head is tilted like he's listening to something. He is drawn by something.

 

THUNK

The door finally falls open and Sam and Dean peer in to the dark room. Stepping into the room they each take out their flashlights to gleam around the room. Dean tries to keep near to Sam as his little brother immediately tries to drift off to the dark corners of the room. Dean usually trusts Sam to take care of himself, but Dean feels far too cautious in this place and doesn't want Sam too far out of reach.

Sam is too busy pulling tarps off of crates to even notice. First crate he opens up contains family items, like photos and clothes. Same for the next three boxes. Dean and him were starting to worry that this might have all been for a few trinkets and nightmare material for the next week. Sam shakes his head as yet again he comes upon a box of family belongings and gets up to rub the aching part of his back from bending over too long.

Sam notices a dark area that he and Dean have not checked out yet, so he moves over to investigate. Ripping away the tarp he's met with a pleasant surprise. Each of the crates underneath the large tarp had the Garrison symbol on them.

Both Winchesters knew what this stuff was. A standard issue terraforming kit, straight from the Garrison.

"Jeez Dean, look at all this! Gen-seed, crop supplements, protein…All a family needs for a fresh start on a new planet. Seems to be a kit for each family. That's fifteen….that's…"

"A fortune," finished Dean. He pulls out his comm. to call back the rest of his crew. "Everyone head to the C-deck storage room. Forget the rest, we've got enough right here for everyone." He cuts off the call and turns around as Sam continues to inspect the cargo. Dean stops dead in his tracks as he looks to the door leading out, Sam not noticing continues his train of thought.

"Dean, something is still wonky here. I mean, even on a lifeboat…Don't you think they would have found room for some of this?" Dean doesn't answer for a long beat.

"Nobody got off this ship." Sam frowns and finally pulls his eyes away from the cargo to get a look at Dean.

"Why would you say that?" Sam asks. His brother is just standing there paused in the middle of the room facing the door and standing in the doorway is Castiel. For once the young man is not engaged in that weird staring thing he usually does when Deans around. Instead he doesn't even seem to notice them. He head is tilted back and he's staring at something on the ceiling. His face is almost completely blank, save for what looks like a sliver of sadness. Sam glances up but can't see anything through the darkness.

Dean lifts his flashlight to illuminate the area above them. He and Sam both recoil in utter horror at what they see.

Bodies. So many bodies.

All of them are weaved into the upper rope rigging of the ship. Twisted clumps of flesh, swollen after days of being dead. Arms and legs dangle down in odd angles, bloated from fluids gathering with gravity. Their skin is so pale now, it almost appears to be glowing under the artificial light from Dean's flashlight. In the back of his mind Sam was grateful that the ship was so cold due to the automatic power shut down, otherwise the stench from those bodies would have soaked into the crew of the Impala by now and probably burned out their nostrils as well.

Sam started to look around him on the floor with his own light to see if there was anything to indicate what had happened here, unable to look at the horrific scene above him any longer. There was nothing. Clean floor, bit of dust here and there, undisturbed.

"There's no blood, Dean. Not a drop anywhere."

Dean mutters agitatedly, "Just our fucking luck. I know what did this." Dean quickly pulls out him comm. and notices out of the corner of his eye Castiel moving further into the room, his eyes still raised to the ceiling even though it is no longer lit up for human sight. Dean turns to Sam, "Get him out of here now."

Sam moves over to Castiel quickly and latches on to his elbow, gently coaxing him towards the door while muttering assurances in his ear. Castiel doesn't seem to be listening to Sam, but to something else and resists Sam's attempts to get him to leave.

Dean goes back to his comm.. "Meg…Meg stop what you're doing and get to the C-Deck now! Balthazar, you too! I need you to take Cas back to the Impala." He ends the call and waits for a response

As soon as Castiel's name is mentioned in Dean's call, Balthazar drops everything, literally, into Chuck's arms and runs to the C-Deck, leaving a very confused and burdened Chuck behind.

Meg is still chewing away at her power bar when she hears the call from the Captain. She abselntly reaches for her own comm. to let Dean know she would mosey on down soon enough. As she puts the device to her mouth, she is suddenly jumped on from behind. It happened so fast, all she could see was a blur behind her and she didn't have time to respond and the comm. was dropped to the ground.

As Meg is struggling with her attacker, Dean's voice filters through the comm., his voice sounding stretched and thin.

"Meg? Meg, do you read? Meg?!"


	5. Chapter 5

Disclaimer: Nothing here is mine!

CHAPTER 5

The Impala's pilot is lounging on the bridge with his feet propped up on the control board. He's once again fiddling with one of his dolls.

Bang Bang

At the sound of gunfire Gabriel shoots up out of his seat and throws himself at the comm..

"Captain?...Dean?...SAM?!"

He only hears more gunfire. Gabriel feels like he's going to be sick.

 

Sam is leading Castiel down the hall keeping a hand on Castiel's arm and in his other hand he now holds his gun. Dean is leading the way for them holding the flashlight and his own weapon held high as they move towards the dining area in a hushed speed.

Dean keesp turning to look back at Cas and Sam, making sure that they never are too far. He knows what happened here, and he won't let them stray more than arms length away at this point. They had to find the others and hurry the hell up. Dean could practically hear his heart pounding in his chest.

Rounding the corner he immediately notices two figures running towards them cast in shadow and he raises his weapon. Lucky for those two, before he can get a shot off, he notices its Balthazar and Chuck. Dean and Sam both blew out a breath at seeing the familiar faces, and Dean lowers his weapon partially.

Upon reaching them, Balthazar's eyes widen when he sees his little brother being held by Sam and moves over to look for any damage. He had heard the gunshot and when he saw Cassy, he had assumed the worst.

Watching Balthazar run up to his little brother, Dean was reminded how felt sorry for the guy. He could relate to the absolute terror that comes with knowing your brother might be in danger or hurt. Balthazar was totally going to have grey hairs popping out soon.

"Cassy, what are you doing here? I thought Anna was watching you!" His hands were still roaming and pushing to too big coat out of the way looking for anything amiss.

"I was following the voices" Castiel said, annoyed with the attention he was getting.

Balthazar wagged a finger in his brother's face, "You are to never leave the ship! Not ever! Are you listening?"

But Castiel was elsewhere, his head tilted to the side. The voices were quiet now, he wondered where they went. Dean broke in, "Just handle him, will you?"

Chuck was completely out of breath after trying to catch up with Balthazar and puffed out, "We…*gasp*…heard you call…*pant* and the shots too…"

Then Gabriel's voice penetrated through the crowd of voices from Dean's comm., "Will someone tell me what the tyen shaio duh is going on down there?!" (Name of all that is sacred)

Sam answers with dripping sarcasm into his own comm.. "Everyone is fine, dearest."

Sam nods to Dean who turns to address those with him. "Okay, we are not splitting up right now. But we also still have to go find out what happened to Meg. So Balthazar, Chuck and Cas…you guys stay right behind us. Sam and I will take lead. And Cas…?"

Castiel tears his eyes from a fascinating spot on the wall to regard Dean. "Let me know if the voices come back, dongma?" (Understand?)

Cas nods, happy to be given a responsibility.

Dean was satisfied and motioned for silence and then started to lead the way to the dining area where Meg was sent.

 

Upon entering the dining area, they can all see evidence of the violence that must have occurred in here. The once eerily still room was now filled with utter chaos. The table had been upturned, the food that had been on the table was now strewn across the floor in some gross slick….and Dean didn't see anyone there.

A soft shuffle behind him had Dean and Sam whipping around to see Meg come forward holding her knife at her side and a somewhat bloody cloth to her head. She looked like she was about to blow a fuse with her lips held stiff in a snarl and some teeth still showing through. Sam thought about how Gabriel always joked that she was part cat and finally saw his reasoning.

"What happened Meg?" Dean asked.

"I don't even know. Something came up from behind me. Big. Strong, but I think I got him." She reports through clenched teeth.

"It appears that you did." Everyone turns to Balthazar who is looking at a trail of blood droplets that lead to a grate in the wall. They all exchange looks with one another, and it's psychically decided that Dean would do it. So Dean moves closer to the grate, gently moving a peering Cas out of the way.

Once he's near the grate, he gestures to Sam to back him up with his own gun before reaching to lift open the grate door.

Inside he finds a young man cowering inside. He looks feral and terrified as he tries to curl up into the smallest ball possible muttering, "Mercy….please…m…mercy. No…mercy."

Dean is reminded of a similar situation not too long ago when he had opened a big box to release a frightened Castiel in the Impala. The memory makes him drop his voice and gently reach out to the trembling man, "Easy now, nobody is going to hurt you." Dean notices the gunshot would on the man's arm. "Well, anymore than we already did." He reaches further in.

"No mercy."

"Oh we have plenty of mercy. Lots and lots of…."

Wham!

Dean punches the man in the jaw, and he crumples there unconscious. Pulling the now subdued man out from the grate, Dean catches the eyes of his crew.

Sam and Balthazar look far from impressed. Chuck is staring wide eyed at his captain next to Meg who is shaking her head and simply looking pissed. Cas is inspecting the man held by Dean. He was staring so hard it looked like he was seeing what was behind the poor guy's skin.

Now that he was laid upon the ground in front of everyone, they could see that he was far from big. He actually appeared on the small side, even if he wasn't half starved like he was now.

"Oh yes Meg, he's really a beast. It's truly a wonder how you survived" Balthazar joked. She sent him the bird in response.

"He seemed bigger when I couldn't see him."

"Enough. Let's just…get him out of here." Dean stopped what could have turned out to be a bitch fest and decided they needed to take care of this man.

Castiel was still trying out his x-ray eyes or something and Dean wondered if he was seeing more than just the man's skin.

 

Outside the infirmary, Anna, Chuck and Bobby have gathered with those from the derelict ship. In the infirmary are Gabriel, Castiel and Dean. The Novak brothers are healing the unconscious man's injuries methodically; Castiel handling the bullet wound while Gabriel worked on the numerous cuts and bruises. Dean is standing close by, one hand rested on his colt and his stormy green eyes never leaving the still form on the table.

Anna looked very troubled, "I wonder how long he has been living like that…"

Chuck shook his head in dumbfounded wonder, "I dunno, but he must be real brave for making it through all on his own, and being the only one who survived and all…"

A snort comes from beside them, "Yeah. Real brave of him killing all of those people…"Meg trails off looking at Chuck pointedly.

"What? No! We aren't thinking that! Are we?" Chuck looks to Sam and Bobby.

Sam adjusts his lean a little bit glancing into the infirmary for a second and answers, "Dean wouldn't have brought him on board if he thought that was the case." Bobby grunts in agreement.

But Sam isn't as entirely sure as he sounds. For once Sam wasn't sure what Dean was thinking. His brother had said he knew what had happened on that ship, but so far he hadn't elaborated and it was starting to worry Sam.

Dean only kept things like this from Sam if he was either worried Sam would react badly, or he was worried that the information would endanger someone. Either way, it didn't sit right with Sam.

"How's he doing guys?" Dean asked the two fugitive brothers.

Gabriel didn't look up to answer as he was focused on what looked like a bite mark on the guys arm, "A little bit freaked, but that's to be expected. The worst injury was just the bullet wound, but Casifrass over here is doing a stellar job." He nudges Cas with an elbow. Cas ignored him as she is still finishing up the bullet wound, a little bit of sweat appearing on his brow, but he was still standing and that was enough for now.

The patient beneath them was muttering in some sort of dream delirium. "They were weak, they were all weak." Dean frowns at the soft words.

Gabriel brings his attention back, "Other than the bullet wound and some malnourishment he seems to be in decent health. Although, that crack to his jaw didn't do him much good." As he spoke Castiel finished the delirious man's arm and moves his long fingers up to the man's head wound and starts healing there. As the healing occurs, the man partially comes out of his fitful rest.

"Cattle. Cattle for the slaughter." He lifts his head a little bit to look around and his eyes fall on Castiel. Dean notices the man's traveling gaze and makes his decision.

"Dope him, Cas." Cas looks up at the captain with a raised brow.

Gabriel makes a confused noise, "Why?"

"Just do it." Dean wasn't going to play around with this. He nods to Cas to go ahead. Cas nods back and moves his fingers up to the sick man's brow as he still mutters.

"No mercy. No resistance." Castiel grunts as his wrist is grabbed suddenly by the man on the bed. "Open up and see what's inside." Cas holds his gaze, his eyebrows furrowed and replies, "I see nothing." And Cas finally knocks him out with a touch of his fingers.

Dean is done here, "Okay guys, let's go chat." And he leads the two out of the infirmary and locks the door behind him.


	6. Chapter 6

Disclaimer: I don't own it at all….But maybe I'll get it for Christmas!?

CHAPTER 6

As he led them out of the infirmary, Dean noticed Cas rubbing his eyes tiredly. He didn't look like he was about to pass out again, but Dean didn't like seeing him less than fully charged. He reached out to gently grab onto Cas' arm to get his attention.

Cas met his concerned look with half lidded eyes. "Yes Dean?"

"I think you should go rest for a bit. Recharge your batteries, stock up on mojo or whatever." Dean said somewhat uncomfortably. He was never too good at showing his concern to anyone other than Sam, and even that was hard. He usually followed it up with a "bitch" to keep it from getting to mushy, but he didn't think Castiel would appreciate it nor understand why Dean kept insisting on referring to him with dog terms, female ones at that.

Lucky for Dean, any awkwardness was avoided because Cas simply nodded and yawned widely enough for his jaw to crack and shuffled off to his and Balthazar's room. But just before moving around the corner and out of view, he turned back to Dean again, "I don't see anything Dean. Wiped clean, but somehow so dirty. So empty, but still something crawls within…Cannot be seen, cannot be felt, cannot be heard, cannot be smelt…What am I?" And he walked away leaving the others to look incredibly confused. Dean watched him leave for a moment and thought about Cas' riddle before turning to the rest of his crew. Chuck spoke up first.

"How is he, the guy, I mean?"

Gabriel answered, "Besides needing some food in him and some serious therapy he seems to be okay. Cassarole healed up that lovely hole Meg left in his arm." Meg simply shrugged. She was looking out or herself.

A sigh of relief came from Bobby, "So he'll live then."

"You bet your bible, preacher," answered Gabriel loudly while smirking.

"Which to me is unfortunate." Dean's statement drew everyone's attention. Next to him Sam shifted uneasily, he had been waiting for Dean to share his thoughts. Now was time to get some answers.

Meg actually looked a little shocked as well, "Well aren't you a barrel of flowers and puppies," she said with a little laugh.

A huff came from behind, "Not exactly a charitable attitude there boy," Bobby gave him a searching look.

"Well, any real charity would be putting a bullet into his skull," stated Dean.

Anna gasped at the comment, "Dean! Why would you say that?"

Dean shrugged as if the reason was obvious and reasonable. "It would save him the suffering. But for now, nobody goes in there, and nobody lets him out. Not after what he has seen."

Sam was starting to understand. There was only one thing that he could think of that would cause Dean to act this way. The others were not catching on as quickly, but then again they hadn't been doing this as long as the Winchesters.

"And what exactly did he see?" Asked Balthazar sounding a little peeved.

"That ship was hit by croats," stated Dean simply. Sam drew in a breath. He has guessed right it seems.

The horror of what had happened to that man hit the crew like a brick to the face.

"Croats?" Chuck chokes out looking alarmingly pale. Gabriel turns to Sam looking for some sign of doubt, but Sam doesn't deny what Dean said. He knew it to be true now. Gabriel swallows hard and nods in acceptance, "Tzao gao." (Well crap)

 

Nobody wants to stick around the infirmary anymore and all of them head to the dining area together without saying a word. They were there for almost an hour in contemplative silence before Anna starts making tea, Chuck helping her. A soothing aroma from the herbal leaves she was using filled the air and it worked to lessen the clamp that had wound around everyone's hearts. Dean wasn't about to drink some girly beverage, but he silently appreciated the scent it permeated.

It was almost if Bobby read his mind and pulled out a bottle of scotch out of nowhere along with two miraculously not broken tumblers. He poured himself and Dean two fingers worth.

Dean saluted him with the glass in thanks.

Of course not everyone was convinced by Dean's cryptic statement. And Dean was still thinking on Cas' cryptic statement. Meg was holding to her own theory. "Jeez. You guys are all such drama queens! It was probably just that guy went crazy and killed all of those other people. Simple and straightforward." She said it like someone just going crazy and killing fifteen families was normal.

"I'm telling you guys. That poor sap in there was lucky enough to get out." Dean sounded completely confident in his analysis. Gabriel was starting to get where Dean was coming from now that he thought back to what the man was saying in his delirium back in the infirmary.

Gabe snorted, "You call that lucky?"

Dean shrugged at the pilot, "Luckier than the rest." Couldn't argue with that if the stories they had heard were true. And the brother's knew that stories were never just stories.

"Couldn't be croats. Croats don't leave any survivors." Meg wasn't backing down. Dean had to agree that she had a point but…

Sam broke in then to support his brother, "Stricktly speaking…I wouldn't say they did…."

Bobby looked confused, "What are you saying boy?" Sam caught Dean's eye. The exchange between the two lasted for a fraction of a second, but that was all it took for Dean to know Sam had his back. So Dean finished Sam's train of thought.

"It doesn't matter that we took him off that ship. He's going to be living on it the rest of his life," he stated.

"I don't accept that. Whatever horrors he witnessed, whatever kind of barbarism, it was done by men. Nothing more. He can be helped." The Sheppard insisted.

Gabriel backed up the brothers, "Croats aren't men, Preacher."

Balthazar wasn't entirely convinced by it all either. Perhaps he had lived planet side for a while, but this seemed too farfetched. "Of course they are. They just simply were left out of civilization too long."

"And I believe in a higher power greater than man. A power that heals. You boys never struck me as ones to give up before now." Bobby pushed more.

Dean pushed right back, "Yeah, I've seen that higher power; When Cas was healing Sam. But that was a physical injury. If Cas or Gabriel could heal mental injuries, do you think that Cas would still be a burger short of a combo meal?" He finished harshly. The captain and preacher were about to engage in a stare-down when Sam decided to intervene.

"Meg's right. Croats aren't men. Or they forgot how to be, or whatever. It doesn't matter cause they're just….nothing now. Empty. Soulless. Mindless monsters." Sam ground out the last part.

Empty, thought Dean….

"Well if it was croats, shouldn't we be…oh I don't know…not here?" Meg asked in a tone that translated that she was impatient to get a move on.

Dean quickly cut in, "Job isn't finished yet. We've got some substantial money value sitting pretty over there."

Balthazar looked sick at the idea and Chuck looked even more pale if that was possible. "I'm not too keen on the idea of going back to that murder mystery set," the posh man told them. He crossed his arms across his chest like a toddler refusing to be sent to bed.

Chuck actually raised his hand tentatively, "Um, Dean? Do…do I have to…?"

The captain rolled his eyes. "Alright, women and children can stay behind," he said snidely. He needed Chucks help with something anyway. He turned to Meg and Sam to address them, but a voice from behind stopped him.

"I'll go." Everyone turned to see a somewhat less groggy Castiel move into the room. He had only been asleep for about an hour, and he still looked far from full energy levels, but he was standing more steadily it seemed to Dean. His clothes were rumpled and his coat was wrinkled where he had probably slept in it. "I've already met the bodies so I don't mind going back for a visit. They might have more to say. And I want to help retrieve the goods, of course."He finished hurriedly.

"And I'll go with you boy. I think you and I could maybe put them to rest, right?" Bobby offered to the sleepy looking man. He was rewarded with a too wide smile from Castiel. Dean wasn't too comfortable with letting Castiel go back into that place. Gabriel and Balthazar looked like they were about to protest as well, but Meg cut in first.

"I think the croats took care of the "resting" bit already," she smirked with fire back in her eyes.

But Sam's bleeding heart was on the preachers and Cas' side. "I think that's a good idea. I mean, how we treat our dead is part of what makes us different from those that slaughtered them in the first place." He cast his puppy eyes at Dean, knowing that his big brother wouldn't argue now.

He wasn't wrong, "Fine. Go say your words and play your bagpipe, sing amazing grace or whatever. But you and Meg will help them cut down those bodies and then I want you to get the cargo. Be quick about it all." Dean figured that should give him enough time to get done what he had to.

Meg wasn't pleased with this turn of events, "Great, so we're going to sit put for a rutting funeral?"

"Yes Meg. We are. I won't have ghosts flying over our heads once we're gone. I'm not saying that there is any peace to be had, but on the off chance there is…those folks deserve a little of it." His ears must have turned a little red while he said that, thought Dean, and absently rubbed at them.

"Fong Luh, all of you…" Meg mumbles as she moves off. (loopy in the head)

Everyone starts to disperse after that. Castiel, Bobby, Meg and Sam head back to the other ship, a reluctant Balthazar following after his younger brother, leaving Gabriel, Chuck and Anna behind with Dean.

Anna and Chuck are both looking at Dean in wonder.

"Wow Dean, just when I think I've got you figured out," said Anna with a breath of amazement.

Chuck also had stars in his eyes as he looked at Dean, it was a little creepy. "Dean that was really pretty what you just said…..can I use it in my book?" Dean didn't bother with an answer and shook his head incredulously at the mechanic.

Even Gabriel was giving Dean a pondering look, "Didn't think you were one for rituals and such there Dean-O."

"I'm not. That's Sam's and Bobby's thing. But I figure it'll keep the others busy for a while. No reason to concern them with what has to be done."

He was met with three confused faces. Dean had something to show them.


	7. Chapter 7

The three gather in the bridge of the Impala where Dean has Gabriel pull up a visual on the Impala's belly where tendril-like wires are attached between the two airlocks. Anna might not understand what was so terrifying about the sight, but Chuck and Gabriel did. They now understood Dean's actions of subtly fully.

The captain was giving himself a reluctant pat on the back, "It's a real burden being right so often." He muttered to himself.

Anna was still confused, "What is it?" She turns to her captain for answers.

"It's a booby trap. Croats leave them behind sometimes in order to nab any rescue ships. We triggered this one when we docked," Dean gestured to the screen.

"And when we detach…" Gabriel mimics a big explosion with his hands and voice, startling Anna and Chuck.

Chuck tried to be reasonable, "Well then we don't detach. We just wait here until….umm." He trailed off not actually sure what they could do.

"What, we wait for the croats to come back for dinner?" Gabriel finished with a sarcastic tone.

Chuck sighed and moved closer to the visual screen. He started to look for the mechanisms involved. Maybe he could fix this and they could leave. He really wasn't too keen on sticking around here much longer. Then he saw it.

"Hey, it looks like it was jerry-rigged with a pressure catch. We…we might be able to bypass that easy if we can get to the DC line…." Chuck sounded more sure when he spoke than he actually felt, but Dean looked pleased.

"Tell me now Chuckie, can you do this?" Dean asked seriously.

Chuck nodded nervously, "Yeah. Sure. I think so…Besides, if I mess up it's not like you could yell at me or anything."

Gabriel and Anna were looking a little panicked at Chuck's assessment of his own ability, but Dean didn't look phased at all. He knew his crew, and he knew that each one of them would always come through when push came to shove.

Dean clapped his hand on Chuck's shoulder. "Let's do this then."

 

The storage hold of the broken ship is quiet save for the moving of equipment as Meg lowers the rigging with the weaved-in bodies. She and the others with her all wore paper medical masks over their faces at Sam's insistence. Nobody could tear their eyes away from the carnage as it was slowly lowered to the ground. It looked even worse up close, like expected.

Balthazar checked on Castiel's expression to see if he really was okay with all of this gore. He couldn't make out much with half of his face covered by the mask, but Balthazar couldn't see anything to indicate that his brother couldn't handle this.

With the bodies finally lowered, Bobby, Castiel and Balthazar step forward to get to work. Sam and Meg move towards the cargo.

 

Dean and Chuck pass by the infirmary on their way to the engine room to grab the needed tools. Looking through the window Dean can see that Castiel's whammy is starting to wear off and the man is now twitching in his fevered sleep, sweat staining the white blanket he is wrapped in. He starts mumbling as he tosses a bit in his slumber and his brow becomes scrunched up in what looked like pain. His breathing looked labored.

Dean makes a mental note to ask Cas to put the whammy on him again when he gets back on board. He moves off, still thinking on what Cas had said…still dirty? Wiped clean?

 

In the storage hold Castiel starts to sweat as he leans over each body in turn, closing their eyes. He keeps looking around the room, eyes wide and looking more and more agitated.

Balthazar is too busy laying sheets over each body to notice and Bobby has his eyes closed and head bowed, reciting passages for the dead.

A loud bang behind him startles Castiel and he whips around to see Sam and Meg placing one of the heavier crates onto a dolly. He's starting to breath heavier.

With a shaking hand, Castiel strokes the brow of the body in front of him trying to comfort her as her face was still frozen in terror, still scared even in death. Even when Castiel closed her eyes, she looked like she was hiding, not sleeping.

 

Chuck is descending into the tight confined space under the panels in the airlock. It's incredibly hot down there among all of the pulsing wiring and electrical circuits and he immediately breaks out into a sweat.

For once he's glad for his somewhat smaller build, otherwise he would be feeling incredibly claustrophobic right now instead of feeling slightly claustrophobic. He crawls forward towards those foreign wires that he can now see entwined with the Impala's circuits. He turns his head back to the opening of the panel.

"Hey Gabriel? Can you shine that light down here?" Gabriel, who had been nearby to help shines a flashlight down into the crevice to give Chuck something to work by. Chuck starts inspecting the different parts to the mechanisms before holding his hand behind him and requests his first tool.

 

Sam and Meg drop the last crate onto the dolly heavily, tired from the hard work. Sam finally brings himself to look over to those who are caring for the dead. Bobby still has his head bent in prayer, breathing out the words quietly, not willing to be too loud in a place like this.

Glancing at Balthazar, he sees that the lithe man is just finishing up covering the last body. He looks like he is about to rub his face with his hand, but thinks better of it and lowers it to his side. His face is drawn tight.

The last person he looks to is Castiel. He has his back turned to everyone as he hums a continuous note over one of the small covered forms. Sam mentally acknowledging that it was probably the body of a young child. Looking closer, Sam notices that he's rocking back and forth as well. Maybe it was a bad idea to bring him after all.

 

Back in the infirmary, the man's twitching meets the peak of its crescendo and his eyes finally snap open, eyes so dilated that they practically look black. He shoots up out of bed with a loud gasp.

 

Sam moves closer to Castiel as he starts to rock faster, his breathing becoming faster and loud enough to hear in the large room. His humming is starting to sound a bit more frantic.

Balthazar and Bobby have taken notice and also start to move towards the youngest Novak.

"Cassy? Hey, hey, hey. It's alright. They're at peace now. You did great. Now let's get you back to the Impala, okay?" His brother is rubbing circles on Castiel's back while Bobby lays a fatherly hand on the trembling man's shoulder.

 

Meanwhile Chuck and Gabriel are still working in the airlocks. Dean has joined them, pacing the floor above the open panel.

Dean being there and looking impatient was making Chuck a little self conscious, but somehow whenever he found himself under some kind of pressure, he usually did surprisingly well. And with that Chuck found the courage for the next step; cutting the first wire.

He stabs into it with surprising force and some black ooze starts to drip out. Chuck hoped that was a good sign. But they hadn't blown up yet, that was a plus. Definitely.

 

A drawer of surgical tools is tossed to the ground with a loud smash, stainless steel objects scattering around the floor. A clammy hand reaches out to dig through the sharp pieces.

It grabs the most lethal looking tool in the pile, and holds it up for inspection. The creature lets out a monstrous war cry.

 

Bobby and Balthazar are trying to get Castiel to his feet when suddenly his knees give out and he screams in terror, eyes flying wide open in fright.

The others there can't get him to calm down. They look to each other in panic. But then, like a switch, Castiel becomes still and his face goes blank and he gets to his feet. He quickly starts walking back to the Impala with determination shining in his eyes.

"Not empty anymore," is muttered under his breath.

A confused Preacher and Balthazar hurry after him, leaving Sam and Meg to look dumbly at each other and then back at the dollies to move. They might as well finish the job.

 

Upon crossing the airlocks, Sam and Meg come up to see Gabriel and Chuck cleaning up tools and Dean putting a panel back in place.

"Hey Dean, what's going on here?" Sam asked.

"Oh nothing, thought we had an issue, but everything seems to be in order now, thanks to Chuck." Chuck blushed somewhere behind him.

"Yeah, looks like a lot of nothing went on here," said Meg, unconvinced, but she and Sam didn't inquire further.

"What about you guys, Cas just walked by like a man with a mission." Dean asked his brother sounding concerned. Gabriel also broke in.

"And preacher man and Balthazar looked like they were chasing after the tiger who escaped from the zoo," he added.

Sam thought about what he had just witnessed. "Dunno man, he freaked out when we were finishing up, but then he just stopped and walked out. I think he just needed to get out of there."

Dean wasn't so sure about that. He had seen Cas' face when he walked by. He didn't look scared or upset. He looked like he was on a hunt. Dean would go find him as soon as they were off though. He didn't want to stick around the croat's hunting grounds any longer than necessary.

"Okay Gabe, everyone is on board. Let's blow this popsicle stand. Sam, Meg, let's get these crates stored."

Gabe couldn't agree more with getting out of there and he hopped up the stairs, headed for the bridge as fast as his legs would carry, which was pretty darn fast.

 

Castiel was nearing his goal. He could feel the evil pulsing through the Impala like a disease and he was going to eliminate it. Stop the poison before it reached the others. He was about to round the corner to the infirmary where the evil was concentrated when he was grabbed from behind by Bobby and his brother.

"Cassy! Stop! Let's just go back to our room, you and me. We can talk. Please stop!"

"C'mon boy, calm down. Everything is fine. Listen to your brother."

Castiel would have easily thrown them off any other time, but he was still weak from the healing earlier that day. Eventually the two men were able to manhandle him back to the passenger's quarters where they sat him on the bed and continued to try and comfort him. Not listening to Castiel's pleads to let him rid the ship of the monster.

"The room is empty and is being filled with shadows! Don't you understand!? Please let me fix it!" He's looking at the two men pushing him down, trying to get them to see reason.

Castiel only started to quiet down when he saw that Balthazar's eyes were becoming wet again, and some tears were breaking loose from his eyes.

He just goes limp in their hands, finally conceding. Castiel closed his eyes and inwardly groaned in frustration.

 

Dean bent over to move the first crate when the proximity alarm starts blaring.

All over the Impala everyone's hearts jump into their throats. They were all thinking the same thing. The croats had come back to check the mouse trap.

Gabriel's voice broke over the ship on the comm.. "It's not the croats guys. But probably just as bad." He sounded like he was about to be sick.

Another voice permeated the ship over the comm.. "Firefly class transport: You are ordered to release control of your helm. Prepare to be docked and boarded."

Dean looked to Sam, "Looks like civilization finally caught up with us."

Outisde the Impala, a ship the size of a city skyscraper looms into view of the Impala. The Garrison insignia was large and bright on its side.


	8. Chapter 8

Disclaimer: Nope, nope, nope. Not mine. Not any of it.

CHAPTER 8

Everyone comes pouring into the hold with panicked expressions on their faces. Meg and Sam are shifting from one foot to another looking like they are ready to sprint into action. Anna and Chuck are wringing their hands, both thinking about the housed fugitives on the ship. Bobby, Balthazar and Castiel come into view, each looking drawn. And then Gabriel tears down from the bridge taking the stairs two at a time to run to his brothers. Meanwhile, Dean is furiously trying to figure something out while trying to appear calm to his frantic crew.

His eyes are drawn to Gabriel and his brothers. The pilot had grabbed Cas and was hugging him so close to him that Cas' face was hidden away in his shoulder. Dean couldn't tell if it was for Cas' comfort or Gabe's, but he wouldn't blame either of them from being scared of the prospect of being taken back to the Host. The sight triggers something in him and Dean makes a choice.

"Leave the cargo out. Let's show them we've got nothing to hide." He orders. Sam and Meg comply and move to pull everything away from the hidden panels.

Behind him he hears Bobby, "Did we hear right. Are we going to be boarded by the Garrison?" He sounds like the very thought pains him as he glances over to the Novak brothers.

It looked like everyone wanted to hear it from Dean. Like it wouldn't be true unless he said it was. But Dean couldn't sugar coat this. "Yes. In about two minutes this ship will be crawling with feds." Intakes of breath could be heard around the room. Anna had her hand held to her chest and looked like she was about to cry she was so worried for their friends.

From within Gabriel's arms a muffled, "No!" comes from Cas. Gabe and Balthazar both turn to look at Dean with pleading eyes.

Sam felt bad that everyone was always looking to him to save them, to protect them. Dean wasn't God, he was just a man with an impressive track record of getting out of messes. But even Sam was looking to Dean to fix this.

Gabriel looked nothing like Sam ever remembered. There was a panicked glint in his golden eyes that just looked wrong being there. He looked truly scared for his family and it was painful for Sam to see the normally playful joker like that.

"Captain, we've got to run," pleaded Balthazar. He knew at this point it would be useless, everyone knew that, but he begged anyway, praying that Dean would have some trick up his sleeve to get them away. He continued, "If they find us they'll put both of my brothers back in that place. They'll be tortured. I'll never seem them again!"

"Calm down! Bring Castiel over here." Dean started to walk towards the part of the hold near the ramp. Knowing that the Garrison would be coming through that door any minute, Balthazar went on the defensive.

"What are you….are you going to use us as a bargaining chip!?" He looked horrified and furious at the very thought, and appeared ready to attack Dean.

Meg gasped from behind, "I knew there was a reason! Nice Dean, didn't know you had it in you!" She looked a lot less panicked now.

Bobby had heard enough and walked up to roughly shake Balthazar. "Enough, Son. Don't be stupid. Do as the man says."

He looked back over to where his brothers were standing, still latched on to each other. Gabriel looked to Dean, then to Balthazar and nodded. He looked at Castiel as he peaked out from their eldest brother's arms and he also gave a small nod before pulling out of Gabriel's arms and moving over to Dean, close enough to brush up against Dean and reach for something on his belt.

Dean would save them. Castiel knew he would. He's always have faith in Dean.

Balthazar and Gabriel followed him over to the Captain.

 

WHOOSH!

The airlock to the Impala opens and twenty Garrison solders step forward onto the ship. They are led by a tall, imposing figure. Dean notices how this guy's eyes wander alertly over each inch of the hold. Dean straightens his posture. Behind him all lined up are Sam and Bobby on either side of him and Anna, Chuck and Meg fanned behind them.

The man nods to his men and two thirds of them move off in different directions to look around the ship. Only after seeing his men off does he finally look at Dean. The captain feels the eyes searching him. It's so different from how Cas does it. Instead of looking like he was seeing Dean's soul, this guy was seeing what stories his skin had to tell. Dean almost moved his hands to cover his junk under the scrutiny.

When the head officer moves closer to Dean, he can see that his uniform has the name Hendrickson on it.

"Captain Dean Winchester?" He doesn't wait for confirmation before he nods to the rest of his men who move forward to rid the Impala's crew of their weapons.

As Dean is roughly handled by a very thorough soldier he speaks up, "Hey, wow buddy careful with that. It's my most impressive weapon. Hey, this is a whole lot of fuss. If I didn't know better I might think we were actually dangerous." Dean notes absently as his weapons are piled in the soldier's arms that his knife was not among the hoard. Dean could have sworn that he had put it in his belt this morning. But he paid it little mind as he had some other more pressing issues at hand. He decided to help this along by delivering his 1000 watt smile for the Commander to see.

Hendrickson didn't look too impressed. "Is this your vessel?"

Dean schooled his features and answered, "Yes sir. Bought and paid for by me." Sam noticed how quickly his brother fell back into soldier mode.

"And is this everyone on your ship?" Hendrickson inquired, one eyebrow raised.

"It is in the way of crew, but you'll find one guy in our infirmary that we picked up from that broken ship. Saved him, you might say." Dean couldn't help but half grin at that. Brownie points might get them out of here.

Hendrickson walked in a tight circle, looking over the hold again. His eyes fell on the newly acquired crates. "And these items, captain…Did you "save" these too?"

The roaming soldiers come across the infirmary. The door is locked from the outside. Two of the soldiers glance at each other before one of them steps forward to unlock and enter.

He sees nothing but a mess at first. Medical equipment strewn around the floor, machines knocked over. He hears some mumbling in the corner of the room and quickly turns with his weapon up and ready. His immediate reaction is one of complete horror and disgust. Dropping his weapon he runs to get some more of his comrades.

Hendrickson continued his judgmental inspection of the "line-up". "Looks to me like an illegal salvage mission…." He prompted Dean.

"Ah, well, that's a bit discouraging." Dean's eyes follow the fed as he inspects the crates closer; he obviously spots the Garrison insignias.

"Garrison property too! You could lose your ship, Captain." He glances over at Dean and his crew meaningfully and continued, "Bu that's just a wrist-slap compared to the penalty for harboring wanted fugitives. Siblings…Two brothers actually….Tell me something Captain, when I search this ship of yours, I won't find them, will I?" His casual attitude was putting everyone of the Impala's crew on edge. They should not mess with this guy.

Dean wasn't about to be shaken thought. Two could play this game, "No children on this ship, sir." Hendrickson met Dean's eyes for a moment; he was looking for traces of a lie.

"I didn't say children, Captain. Siblings. Adult Siblings." He corrected harshly.

"Oh, my mistake." Dean smiled at him, as if apologizing for his ignorance. It might have worked as Hendrickson was looking far from impressed at Dean, but he continued. He was persistent, Dean had to give him that.

"Are you sure there is no chance that they might have…stowed away on your ship? No one would blame you for that, Captain. I know how these firefly vessels have their little…nooks and crannies…." Dean feigned surprise.

"Do they now?"

"Yes, smugglers tend to favor them for just that reason…" He looked like he was going to continue, but two soldiers suddenly returned from somewhere on the ship and ran to his side to whisper something in their commander's ear.

Dean could tell that whatever was said was not good because Hendrickson's face actually flickered with shock and turned to Dean, practically piercing him. Absently he nods to the soldier in understanding and turns to address the crew of the Impala.

"We will continue this conversation in a more official capacity." He says ominously and a few soldiers step forward to start placing hand-cuffs on each of them. His crew immediately reacts. Meg starts cursing and spitting at the guy trying to cuff her up, but at least she's moderately complying. Bobby is glaring daggers, but also going along with it all. A quickly paling Chuck hardly moves as his own soldier binds him. They leave Anna alone, but her arm is being held firmly by one of the soldiers. Sam and Dean exchange looks around the soldiers who are cuffing them, and Dean tries to send his brother some kind of encouraging smile, but he's pretty sure that it came out more like a grimace.

Meanwhile, Hendrickson was hashing out more orders at his men. "I want every inch of this junker searched!"

Dean couldn't contain it, "Junker?! Did you just call my ship a junker!?"

"Dean, calm down!" Sam reminded him tensely.

Dean was not okay with that, "But Sam, did you just hear what he called my baby!?"

"Shut up, ya idjit!" Bobby hissed at him. Dean settled, but was still steaming. He glared at each and every soldier they passed as they were led onto the Garrison ship, as if daring them to mess up anything on his beloved ship.


	9. Chapter 9

"So you're a companion?"

"Yes,"came the delicate answer.

"And you've only been with this vessel for the last….9 months?"

"That is correct. May I ask why this is important?"

Anna is sitting impeccably at the metal table. Her hands are folded delicately in front of her and she is meeting the eyes of her interrogator straight on. She had been trained her whole life to not be intimidated by men and there was no way she was going to start now. Across from her, Hendrickson was lounged back in his chair, obviously not impressed by the fact that she was a registered companion. She respected him for his focus on the job, if not for his choice in job.

"I'm just trying to put together the pieces miss. It is a curiosity though. You living on a ship like this one with your high stature, that is. And also living among these types…." He trailed off, giving her a chance to break in.

And break in she did, "I don't see anything odd about it at all. It's a mutually beneficial arrangement between the captain and me. I rent the shuttle which allows me to widen my client base, and the Captain finds that having a companion on board opens certain doors that otherwise might be closed to him."

Hendrickson seemed thoughtful at this, but didn't show much else upon his face. He simply took some notes on the pad of paper in front of him.

Anna didn't shift at all, and never broke eye contact.

 

"Do you love him?"

"I don't see how that is relevant."

"Well he is your brother."

"Then yes. And you can't hold us here without formal charges." Sam had gone to law school. As if this guy could break through.

"Well actually we can, for forty eight hours. But you know that. You were pre-law, right?" At Sam's dirty look Hendrickson continued. "Yes, we know all about you Sam. Your mother died when you were young, your father died in the war. Your family moved around a lot when you were a kid. Despite that you were a straight-A student. Got into college with a full ride…Then a few years ago there was an accident at your school. One fatality, Jessica Moore, your girlfriend. After she dies, you join the war on the Hunter's side. Then after the war, you fall off the grid, along with your brother. Care to explain?" He raised one eyebrow at Sam.

Sam shrugged and crossed his arms, "I needed some time off. So I went on a road trip with Dean."

"And how is that going for you?" Hendrickson almost sounded interested, almost.

"Oh it's going great! Saw the second largest ball of twine in the universe. Awesome. You should totally check it out man." Sam smiles at his interrogator. Hendrickson sighs heavily.

 

Chuck is up out of his seat pacing the room while gesturing madly in the air, actually sounding a bit pissed about something. Whatever it is, Hendrickson can't figure it out. He simply watches Chuck pace the room and keeps glancing at his empty pad of paper where he should be taking notes on this guy, but…..

"...six Gurstler's crammed right under every cooling drive so that you strain your primary artery function and end up having to recycle secondary exhaust through a bypass system just so you don't end up pumping it into the main atmo feed and asphyxiating your crew. What genius  
thought up that lame design? Now that's "junk." And you really shouldn't have called the Impala a "junker". You really made Dean mad. He gets really sore when you insult his baby. There was this one time that I described the Impala in my book and Dean saw it…."

The interrogator closes his eyes, and sighs loudly again, his shoulders dropping heavily.

 

"My men inform me that they found an impressive amount of weapons in your room…"

Meg sits across the table, chewing a piece of gum that he isn't quite sure where she got it from. Her arms are crossed and she's leaning back, almost lounging.

"Is there a reason someone who works on a transport ship feels the need to have such a collection of arms?"

She hasn't blinked for a while he's pretty sure. Her gaze is actually making him a bit uncomfortable. He covers his fidgeting my shifting position to fix his uniform. He tries again.

"Do you often come across reasons to need weapons since working for Dean Winchester?"

"…."

Hendrickson can't remember a time he sighed so much in one day.

 

"Pirates with their own chaplain. There's an oddity for you."

The Preacher huffs, "Ain't the only oddity you'll find out here in the black. The way of things is not so plain as it is on the central planets. Rules out here are a mite fuzzier."

"Oh, not for me. I've got all my rules set for me, written down and decided upon by the Garrison."

"I've got some rules that I follow too, most of them from a book as well. Probably ain't the same book as yours, but I hear it has some weight to it." This Sheppard had spunk. A lot more than the other old religious kooks that Hendrickson had encountered before.

"And you came on the Impala at Persephone…?"

Ah, this is what Bobby had been waiting for. Hendrickson was about to start really digging.  
That's right."

"The fugitives we are looking for, the brothers, they were last seen on Persephone…" He was hoping that Bobby would play along, but Bobby was never one for conforming.

"That so?"

Hendrickson was now leaning forward on the table, obviously he was trying to intimidate Bobby. But the Sheppard was not so easily scared. "Yes, they boarded a Firefly class transport. Just about the same time you boarded the Impala…"

Damn, this boy was really fishing, but he would get nothing from Bobby. "Seems that I recall Persephone being a pretty big place. But my memory ain't what it used to be." Bobby half smiled at the interrogator, as if daring him to question an old preacher.

Hendrickson was reaching his last nerve. Not even one of God's servants was going to help him. "Yes it is, but a Firefly isn't. And if those boys are on that ship, we will find them," he practically snarls at the preacher.

Bobby just raised a bushy eyebrow.

 

When Castiel was four, he loved to play hide and seek with his brothers. His favorite part was always when he was finally found by one of his brothers because they would immediately swoop in and hug or tickle him. Castiel would be laughing so hard that tears would be pouring down his face and his brother's would both be there laughing and smiling right along with him.

It had become harder and harder to get them to play with him as time went on though. They would always say that they were too old for baby games or they were too busy with other responsibilities or friends. Cas would try and tell them that it was a practical game and it was good training for if they ever really needed to hide. Castiel had thought that they would want to play it more if they thought it had grown-up applications. But whenever he asked, they would just ruffle his hair and look at him sadly before telling him to go play in the garden or do his homework.

One day Castiel had decided to try hiding one more time to see if his brothers would come and find him and make things like always. So for days he checked out all of the best hiding places in their large house. He finally found the perfect place in their attic. Usually he wasn't allowed to go up there alone, but he thought that it was too perfect a spot to give up.

Stepping up into the attic, he had forgotten that the ladder would pull back up on its own behind him. As it slammed shut as he stepped in, Castiel panicked for only a moment before convincing himself that his brothers would find him soon enough. So he sat down among the insulation and moldy boxes to wait.

He wasn't sure how long he was up there for, but it must have been quite a few hours because it had gotten dark outside a while ago. Dinner must have been over for a while, and it was probably close to his bedtime, so he laid down where he was and fell asleep.

He was woken up suddenly by loud voices and hands grabbing him. He saw Gabriel first, his face was full of relief and his eyes looked glassy and wet. Balthazar came into view, he was openly crying and reaching for Castiel to grab him up in a hug, and Gabriel moved in to encircle them both in his arms as well.

This was not what Castiel had expected when his brothers found him. The hug was different, there was no tickling and it felt like…too much. And Castiel felt his own eyes forming tears and felt them drip into his brother's sleeve.

Castiel felt horrible about making his brother's so sad and scared by disappearing. He promised himself that he would everything in his power to make sure that he and his brothers were never separated from each other for too long again. He also never played hide and seek since the incident.

So when Dean had told Cas that he was going to play hide and seek with his brothers again, he wanted to protest right away, but then he was told that he would be hiding with Gabriel and Balthazar with him and that Dean would come and find them later. This sounded alright to Cas, and he agreed to play the childhood game once again and moved forward to grab the spacesuit out of Dean's hands.

Now he can't remember a time that he felt so free and at home. He and his brothers were clinging to the side of the Impala, outside of the ship and in the black. Castiel was pretending he was a comet, shooting through the sky and blasting through anything in his path.

Smiling widely, Castiel turns to Gabriel and Balthazar and points to a particularly bright star somewhere behind them. Gabriel turns indulgently to see what he was pointing to and smiles back and squeezes Castiel's arm affectionately.

Balthazar is not having quite as much fun as his brothers, and when he turns to see what Castiel was pointing at, he is once again reminded that he is one hand slip away from drifting off into nothing. He turns his somewhat green face back to rest his helmet covered head on the side of the Impala. He still peaks open one eye to glance at Castiel again. He can't help it, he hasn't seen Cassy look so happy for a long time.

He's still staring off into the limitless void of space, seemingly taking some kind of deep comfort in the vastness of it all. Balthazar glances over Castiel to catch Gabriel's eye on the other side of their little brother. They exchange small smiles and each move one of their arms to encircle Castiel. They were perhaps a little concerned with him trying to learn to fly.


	10. Chapter 10

Disclaimer: I own nothing here, so tragic, so sad!

CHAPTER 10

Dean sits alone in the alarmingly white interrogation room. He had been waiting in the holding cells for a long time, he was guessing while the rest of his crew was interrogated first. And now he had been waiting here in this blinding room for almost an hour. It was making him a bit antsy. He could only wonder how the Novaks were doing clinging to the side of the Impala…

He almost jumps when the door behind him suddenly opens and Hendrickson walks forward and slaps an impressively thick folder onto the table and sits down. He represses it though, appearing as calm and collected as always. Its game-time, thinks Dean, and he leans back comfortably in the very uncomfortable metal chair.

The fed hasn't looked at Dean yet; instead he is going through the file, paper by paper, looking like some paper pusher in his tiny cubicle somewhere, completely at ease. Dean knows that this is a calculated move to put him on edge, but Dean has dealt with interrogations that would make this one look like speed dating.

Might as well break the ice, thought Dean.

"I figure by now you've been over to the other ship. Seen what's there for yourself?" Dean asks, referring to the massacre.

"Oh, yes. Terrible thing." Hendrickson hasn't looked up yet, and the Impala's captain thinks that just plain rude, so he continues to talk.

"If you want my advice I wouldn't tow that boat anywhere. It's best to burn it, right here and now."Dean suggested friendlily.

"That ship is evidence, Captain." Still not looking at Dean.

"Oh right, that would be against the rules...I'm going to take a wild stab and say that this is your first tour of the outer rim?" Dean inquired, already pretty sure of the answer.

Hendrickson finally looks at him, and Dean rewards him with a friendly smile.

"I knew about your father. Well, your whole family really. You guys were legends during the war."

Dean scoffs not impressed and crosses his arms over his chest. As if this was new to him. He had heard this line of questioning before. "You don't know anything about my Dad."

Hendrickson only raised an eyebrow. "Ex-marine, raised his kids on the road always in Hunter groups. Real paramilitary survivalist type. I just can't get a handle on what type of whacko he was."

"You've got no right talking about my Dad like that. He was a hero." Dean stated firmly.

Hendrickson just continued like Dean had said nothing.

"You have a very loyal crew, Captain Winchester. But I see that you have a record of inspiring people everywhere you go, isn't that right, Sergeant?" Dean tensed a little, always did when the war was brought up.

"I'm not a Sergeant anymore. War's over, didn't you hear?" Dean replied innocently.

"As I hear it, the war never ended for some people. I also hear you named your ship Impala, after Impala canyon, am I right? The turning point of the war? I'm going to take a wild stab and say that you have some trouble forgetting the war?" Hendrickson dug, copying Dean's words from earlier.

"Or I really like antelopes." Dean's comment is ignored.

The fed across from him folds his hands under his chin and studies Dean. Again Dean feels like covering himself from the x-ray glare. He wondered what a staring contest between this guy and Cas would be like…

"Seems a bit odd to me that you would name your ship after a battle you were on the wrong side of…" His interrogator trails off.

"It may have been the losing side, but I'm not too sure that it was the wrong side." Dean said in a low, dangerous voice. This guy really knew how to make Dean bristle, but still wasn't enough to make him lose control. Still, Dean wasn't prepared for what was said next.

"So is that why you attacked the transport ship?"

Dean startled and sat up in his chair, "What?!"

Hendrickson continued, "I think you are still fighting the same battles, Sergeant. Only those weren't soldiers you murdered. They were civilians, families. Citizen's loyal to the Garrison trying to make a new life somewhere, and you couldn't stand that, could you?" His voice was slowly getting harsher and rising in volume. He had gotten out of his chair as well and was pacing around the table, reminding Dean of a jaguar circling its prey.

But Dean would not be prey to anyone. "So we attacked the ship and brought the only survivor and only living witness, I might add, back to our ship and took care of him?!"

"I'd ask him, but I think he would find it kind of hard, having his tongue split down the middle." This part was hissed into Dean's ear and he shuddered. Oh, no. Dean closed his eyes, he knew where this would go, and it was not a pretty road.

"I haven't seen that kind of torture, Sergeant, since…well, since the war." He paused and leaned on the table only a few inches away from Dean, and moved his face close enough to Dean's that he couldn't look away.

"It says here in your file that you were an "expert interrogator" during the war. Some of your "work" became well known among the Garrison. All too well versed in the art of interrogation and couldn't give up the trade once the war was over because that's all you were good for. Daddy's little soldier who would do anything for his family, like torture other men."

Dean's mind was running wild. Flashes of the men that he had "interrogated" during the war flickered by. All of that spilled blood on his hands. The screams. The materials for his nightmares. His biggest regret and the reason he had trouble looking at himself in the mirror. The war was a time of Dean's life that no matter how much he wanted to, he could not forget. The things he had to do to other men. He was a monster. A demon. Scum. Dirt. Evil.

…..A good man, Dean Winchester…

His eyes snapped back open. He didn't know why that came to mind, but it saved him and raised him from the darkness and it also let Dean immediately know what had happened to that poor man from the broken boat and what would happen next. He steeled himself for what he had to do next. The game was over; there were innocent people's lives at stake now.

He rubbed the bridge of his nose agitatedly, "I should have seen this coming. Listen Hendrickson, there's something you need to know about that man…"

"If you tell us about the whereabouts of the Novaks, then we can talk about negotiations…"Dean cut him off, there was no time for this.

"Yeah no, listen, I'm not in the mood for negotiations right now. We need to talk about that man…"Dean tried again to get the other man's attention.

"Well, if you are not going to cooperate at the moment, then you and your crew will be bound by law. Formal charges will be transmitted to a formal authority…"

"Hendrickson, I am not what you need to be concerning yourself with right now!" He shouted at the man. Hendrickson finally looked at him, but it was only a glance. Dean pushed harder.

"The way things are going right now, there is going to be more blood!" Dean had stood up from his chair, knocking it down behind him. Hendrickson looked a little alarmed, perhaps even frightened, and that gave Dean some power here. He would need every ounce of it if the little voice in the back of his mind was right.

 

In the Garrison infirmary the man is laying on a bed while doctors and nurses work around him trying to fix the new damage. His body is lurching and convulsing, spraying blood and gore on the workers around the man from the many fresh wounds now on his body.

They are all working so frantically to subdue him that they don't notice when a large knife is pulled out from its sleeve….

It slashes at his first victim.


	11. Chapter 11

Disclaimer: Nothing here is mine, I'm afraid. D'X

CHAPTER 11

"Croats?" Hendrickson repeats skeptically. Clearly he's unimpressed with Dean's reveal and just continues to pick up the papers to put back into the folder.

"Yes, I'm pretty sure I just said, Croats."Bitch, did I stutter? Thought Dean to himself.

The other man just sighs and shakes his head, "Captain, you have no idea how many times a man in my position hears the excuse, "The croats did it.""

Dean did not want to play around with this guy anymore. The game was over and shit just got serious. "Yeah well, the sad truth is, the truth is sad. Croats are the responsible party here."

"Oh, then you saw them? These phantoms of the black?" Hendrickson actually laughs a little at that and Dean wants to slap him for his ignorance.

Dean was practically growling in frustration now, "No, but I'll tell you who did. That poor bastard you took off my ship. He looked right into that black, right into the face of it. He was made to stare."

"It?" The fed sounded a little curious now.

"The darkness. The kind of darkness that you can't even imagine. I bet you were told as a child to not be afraid of the dark….What are you kidding me, of course you should be afraid of the dark! You know what's out there, but instead everyone just pretends it's all stories! Shadows fill every room, but we just ignore them as just creations of our own, but that doesn't mean they aren't hiding anything!"

"How poetic, Captain. Do you write books like your mechanic?"

"Those monsters that you pretend only exist in our imaginations…they made him watch. He probably tried to turn away, but they wouldn't let him. You call him a "survivor?" He's not. A man comes up against that kind of evil, only way to deal with it... is to become it. He's following the only course that's left to him after every last piece of humanity was ripped from him through his eyes. Empty where his soul was taken from him, and being filled with the only thing he remembers…..And that's the croats who attacked his ship."

"Captain, that is enough."Hendrickson had had enough with the ranting of a killer.

But Dean wasn't about to back down. There were lives at stake, and Hendrickson needed to hear this. He needed to understand and learn. "First he'll try to make himself look like one... cut on himself, desecrate his own flesh... then he'll start acting like one." Dean was almost whispering by the end of it. Trying to hit it home, but Hendrickson wasn't buying it.

The door to the room opens behind them and a soldier comes running to his commander's side, looking sick.

 

The hatch back into the Impala opens, letting the Novak brothers move back inside to the welcoming warmth. Balthazar is the first one back in, glad to be surrounded by walls on all sides once again. Behind him Gabriel starts helping Castiel off with his helmet.

A smiling and slightly out of breath Castiel emerges once the helmet is off, even his cheeks had a lively blush to them. It's obvious that he really enjoyed the little field trip. Breathlessly he asks, "Can we go again?" It brings a smile to Gabriel's face.

From behind them they hear Balthazar's groan at the thought. Gabriel laughs, "Maybe later my little space man. I don't think Balthazar can handle another run right now. Besides, Dean said that once the coast was clear we should lay low in the shuttle. Remember he's going to be seeking us out later?" He moves to grab Castiel's hand to lead them all to the shuttle, but he's met with resistance from Cas.

The healthy flush to his cheeks is gone along with the smile, "He's coming back." Castiel looked troubled when he said this.

Gabriel isn't sure what to make of that, so he turns to Balthazar who just shrugs. Gabriel interprets it as a question if Dean is to return. "Yes. Yes, of course Dean's coming back. They all are. Dean knows how to handle these situations. We just have to be patient. Weren't you the kid who could sit still for hours on end watching freaking bugs? Let's go to the shuttle and wait for Dean there." He pulls at Castiel's arm again, gently urging him on.

Castiel allows himself to be led down the hall by his brother, but he's just too tired to argue at this point. And he doesn't even point out the bloody handprint on the wall as they walk past it. They were waiting for Dean after all, and Dean would save them.

 

Dean watched as Hendrickson paled visibly as the soldier relayed his message. The Impala's captain could guess at what was being said at that moment. Right now his gut was telling him that it was too late to save everyone, but that didn't mean that Dean wouldn't try to stop anymore innocent blood from being spilled.

He mused at what must be going through the commander's head right now. He was probably learning that the survivor was really a monster and was now on a violent rampage. He would then realize that Dean wasn't full of B.S. and that this was serious. Croats were real and they were on this ship. And also he hopefully realized that Dean was not only innocent in this, but also right.

Dean knew the exact moment that everything clicked into place in his interrogators mind because he got this lost look in his eyes and turned his attention sharply to the captive captain.

Hendrickson looked up at Dean for a moment, as if finally seeing that maybe Dean wasn't the monster here. "Soldier, I want you to take Captain Winchester back to the brig and keep him there until I send for him. Then I want full lock down, send guards to the infirmary…" The soldier moved to comply halfway through the instruction and went to grab at Dean's arm, only to have Dean rip his arm from the soldier's grasp and move towards Hendrickson.

"It doesn't matter. You won't find him if you head out looking for a man." Hendrickson turned to regard Dean, and was looking perhaps a little at a loss. Clearly he had not been expecting for Dean to be right. An opening.

"But I can find him. I know where he'll go," Dean said harshly to him, his voice holding every ounce of confidence that Dean had. He didn't break eye contact with the Commander and he could see how lost the man was, with his resolve dissolving before Dean's eyes.

"I know monsters, Hendrickson. And I know which shadows they hide in."

 

Castiel was still being led down the hall by his brothers, his eldest brother holding his hand to keep him from straying and Balthazar leading the way. Gabriel felt a prickling at the back of his neck. It had been almost unnoticeable for the last day, simply a tickle like he needed a haircut or something. Now it felt like a wasp buzzing threateningly close to his head. He knew that Castiel was also feeling the same thing, only probably fifty times more prominent.

He also knew that this was that "sixth sense" that had been drilled into him at the Host coming back. He had tried everything in his power to ignore and eventually repress this sense as it felt like a fifth limb to him. Out of place and no longer entirely human.

But since reuniting with his little brother who had been given the same treatment it seemed, Gabriel found himself exploring the extent of his own power again, thus awakening the sixth sense of his. It was nowhere near as sensitive as Castiel's, but even he could feel that the atmosphere in the Impala was thick like black smoke was drifting through the ventilation shafts. He gripped his little brother's hand tighter and waited to feel a return squeeze like he used to get when they were children walking to school, but he didn't feel it. Instead he felt Castiel stop in his tracks and try to move back the way they came. Balthazar noticed their pause and doubled back.

Castiel was really trying to move away now, even whimpering a little while attempting to peel Gabriel's hand from his so that he might get away.

"Hey, Cassy. It's okay. They're gone, the feds are back on their own ship now. Let's go to the shuttle now for a bit, yeah?" Balthazar looked to Gabriel, as if asking the reason for Castiel's reluctance.

"No, no. Shadows Balth, this place is filled with shadows." He practically sobbed and then turned to his eldest brother, "I know you can see the shadows too Gabe, just look! Please!" Now he was begging, both of his hands now buried in Gabriel's shirt. Gabriel put his hands over Castiel's.

"I can't see them little brother, not as well as you." Castiel looked crushed at this, but Gabriel continued. "But that means you need to help us lesser beings see through the shadows, okay? Tell us what to do." The grateful look in Castiel's eyes warmed every inch of Gabriel.

"What is going on? I feel a little left out here. What's this about "shadows?" Are there still feds on board," Balthazar asked, lowering his voice to a low whisper.

Castiel answered back, just a quiet. "We're not the only ones playing hide and seek on this ship tonight."


	12. Chapter 12

Notes:There is only one more chapter after this one for the story and then on to the next episode! Yay!

Also, I'm using the idea that normal people can feel "presences" of supernatural things. You know the whole feeling like you're being watched thing. I needed some way to justify Balthazar going along with the weirdness. The explanation also made this easier for me to work with it being an "enhancement" as opposed to "magic" done by the Host as experimentation XD

Disclaimer: I say again….I own nothing =(

 

CHAPTER 12

The path back to the Impala is littered with bodies of guards, slashed and beaten to death at the hands of the rampaging and demented man, but Dean couldn't think of him as a man. He wasn't a victim anymore because the victim was dead and had replaced by whatever demon had taken over. Mercy? Not anymore.

"What makes you think that he would come back here?"

Dean had been leading Hendrickson and a three of his soldiers after the Commander had finally caved and let Dean take over the operation. The man was not stupid and could admit defeat, and for that Dean was forever grateful.

"It's looking for familiar ground. It's on the hunt." Dean answered absently. His mind was reeling with concern for the three members of his crew left on the Impala. It irked him that something that wicked had found its way into their home, by Dean's hand no less, and now it had not only killed innocents, but who knows what might happen if it found the Novaks.

They reach the airlock between the Garrison ship and the Impala. The door is wrenched open and a body is wedged in the doorway, half of his face missing probably from something sharp cutting back the skin. Dean swallows back rising bile and turns and mouths "Are you ready?" to Hendrickson and his men. He gets a nod as his answer, and with that, Dean returns to his ship.

Two paces in he turns back yet again. "Don't suppose you guys wanna take these cuffs off?" He whispers while ruefully smiling.

Hendrickson rolls his eyes and give Dean an unimpressed look while moving up behind Dean to undo the cuffs, only to them move in front of Dean and put them on him again, this time with Dean's hands held in front.

Dean inspects his bound hands and returns Hendrick's glare, "Well gee wiz man, thanks. Now I'll really have the advantage," he whispers harshly and jingles the cuffs in the Commanders face for emphasis.

"Just hurry this up Captain. I don't want any more men dead today."

That was enough to put Dean back on the hunt and he prowled ahead into the Impala.

 

Castiel had led them both back down the hallway to where they had entered the Impala, not answering any more of Balthazar's whispered inquiries. Gabriel seemed content to be led by their unstable little brother and the whole situation didn't sit well with Balthazar.

"It's Dean's turn to be seeker, so we need to hide until he comes to find us." Castiel informed them as they reached their destination and deposited his two brothers there and then promptly turned to move back towards the shuttle again, leaving them behind.

"Wait, what are you doing, Cassy? I thought you said we needed to hide."This was all too confusing for Balthazar. He felt uneasy and wasn't sure why, and now little Cassy was trying to take charge?

"Yes, but I also need to leave something out for Dean." And he started off again. Balthazar was about to stop him when Gabriel pulled him back.

"Let him go. He can handle what's out there better than any of us." He said trying to calm Balthazar. But Balthazar wasn't about to give up trying to get more information out from Gabriel.

"What are you doing, brother? There are Garrison soldiers crawling all over the place! What if he wanders right into them? He'll get sent back!" He whispered harshly at Gabriel.

"It's not the soldiers that he's worried about."

Balthazar scoffed quietly, "Yeah, he's worried about shadows. There is no one on this ship. Why are you playing along with him?"

"Because he's right. Something is on this ship…I don't know for sure what it is, but Castiel can sense it." His eyes were pleading with Balthazar to understand, but how could he understand something that he couldn't see, feel, or even imagine? How would Gabriel explain what Castiel and he were feeling?

"Are you sure that he senses something and is not just having an episode? I mean, two days ago he was convinced that the radio was possessed because static kept coming through."

Gabriel shook his head, "Because I can sense something too. Not much, but enough for me to shut up and let Castiel take lead in this." His tone had lost all of its normal joking sound and he met his brother's eyes. Eventually Balthazar had to look away. He still had doubt.

He sighed deeply, "And how am I supposed to know if I can believe the two of you? You both could be completely bonkers only you're better at hiding it then Castiel. This whole thing could be complete bullshit and I'm just as nutty as you two because I'm listening to you both. Give me one reason why I should believe you and Cassy aren't delusional." He hissed out with a lowered voice.

Gabriel smirked, "One reason? Hmm, well, I think normal humans can feel it too in a way. You just aren't as attuned to interpreting this feeling as us. It's hard to explain, but how about I ask you this; if there is no one here on this ship, then why are you still whispering?"

 

Castiel moved into the kitchen silently. He could feel the darkness moving closer to this room. He left his gift for Dean on the counter top and hurried back to join his brothers once more. He reached them just in time. Dean had finished counting it seemed, and was on the hunt.

"We split up…"

Dean cut Hendrickson off. "No. We stick together unless you wish to have your men picked off."

The commander considers this for a moment before nodding in reluctant agreement, finally surrendering control to the more experienced Captain.

Dean accepted graciously, "Okay, also you should have your men stand by the door unless you want that thing to get a chance to move back onto your ship." Hendrickson agreed again and nodded to his men to follow the Captain's suggestion and then gestures to Dean to continue to lead the way.

Dean leads the way through the ship.

They start by going by the infirmary, where it all began. They both note the spilled medical equipment and surgical tools as well as the blood splattered over the white room. Next they walk by the passenger quarters, seeing nothing really amiss. Following the hallways they come to one of the forks in the pathways.

Dean had been a few feet in front of Hendrickson the whole time, peering around each corner before moving forward. But upon reaching the hallway where the hatch to the outside of the Impala was, Dean peaked around the corner to see the Novaks huddled near the door. Dean immediately stopped in his tracks, stopping Hendrickson from moving any further forward.

Thinking frantically Dean knew a few things in a fraction of a second. One: The Novaks wouldn't be able to hide and they couldn't move anywhere else without having to walk within sight of Hendrickson. Two: He would have to find some excuse for turning around and leading Hendrickson away from this hallway. Three: He was at a blank for how to handle this one and there was no time to compile a plan.

But blessed Castiel, he caught Dean's eye in that fraction of a second and mouthed one word to him, "Kitchen." And Dean knew what to do.

He abruptly turns to a confused Hendrickson, game face on.

"Turn around. We're going to the kitchen."

Hendrickson looks even more confused and perhaps a little annoyed, "Why now? Don't you want to finish looking down this hall?"

"Nah, I just remembered I left the stove on." And Dean brushes past him moving towards the kitchen, hoping that Hendrickson would just follow and not inspect any further into the ship. He was rewarded with the Commander following a pace behind after a beat and Dean gave a heavy mental sigh of relief.

Dean became more and more alert the closer they got to the kitchen. Cas had told him that this was the place, but upon entering it, all he saw amiss was the silverware drawer pulled out and scattered across the floor. He moved further into the room, scanning every corner of the room.

Hendrickson had slowed his own pace considerably once they neared the kitchen. It almost seemed like he was picking up on the spooky and menacing atmosphere. Dean moved more into the room, heading over to look behind the counter when a little flash of light caught his eye. A second look revealed that it was the light reflecting off of the metal of his hunter's knife placed on the counter-top. Definitely not where he had left it.

Dean was so focused on the discovery of the knife that he didn't notice the figure sneaking out from one of the dark corners of the room.

The figure launched itself out from the corner and at Hendrickson, pulling the stunned Commander to the floor with a growl and a snarl that finally caught Dean's attention. Hendrickson fumbled with his gun before it was knocked out of his hands by the flailing arm of the creature.

The captain reacted instantly, grabbing the knife from the counter and moving to the struggling pair on the floor. Hendrickson was valiantly trying to keep the snarling creatures mouth away from his neck where it seemed to be trying rip out his jugular, but it was a losing battle and his arms were starting to tire. Suddenly the weight was taken off of him, and he could then see Dean now wrestling with the monster.

This thing seemed to have inhuman strength and Dean was having trouble subduing it. He had just finally gotten it pinned down on its back when he saw its face fully. It was shredded. Bits of its skin were in ribbons and its cheeks were sliced all the way through so that Dean even got a glimpse of teeth here and there. Pieces of metal were woven through various holes in sick imitations of the facial piercings that some teenagers seemed to favor. Blood and spit were spraying over Dean's face as it continued to let out animalistic noises.

Dean had been so surprised and entranced by the damage that he gave the demon an opening to slash at his chest with a stolen surgical tool and Dean was pushed away, falling back on the floor.

The demon took the opportunity to launch itself back at Hendrickson. As he was just about to reach out to the frozen commander, Dean popped up once again and in the blink of an eye he was pulling the knife along the monster's throat, finally ending its grotesque life.

Hendrickson could only sit there in a stunned silence, watching as Dean lowered the mutilated corpse to the ground clumsily as his hands are still bound. The captain stands straight after that and Hendrickson sees the raw strength and confidence that he had missed from before somehow. Dean may have been covered in blood and dirt, and holding an equally bloody knife in his hand, but Hendrickson could see the difference now that had eluded him before.

Dean was not a monster. He was a hero.


	13. Chapter 13

Notes: I do hope that this chapter wasn't too fluffy for you guys =P But I felt the need to wrap up some emotions for some of the crew. And please enjoy the last chapter of the Devil In You! =D

Disclaimer: Nope nope nope, ain't mine.

 

CHAPTER 13

The Impala breaks off from the Garrison ship not even an hour later, all of its crew let go with a promise by Hendrickson that he would handle everything else. Dean had no idea how the commander would come up with a way to explain eleven dead soldiers and dead civilian and how he let a ship with supposed connections to fugitives go, but Hendrickson said he would handle it and that was all that Dean could ask for.

The captain now stood in the bridge, watching out the window as the Garrison ship disappeared from view. Sam and Gabriel came in behind him.

"I can't believe you saved his sorry life and he still keeps the cargo, Hwoon dahn," (Jerk) Gabriel said sounding amused and a little annoyed as well. He had been looking forward to his share of the cash to buy more chocolate for him and Sam next time they were planet side.

Sam sighed next to him, "He had to Gabe. No way could he also explain letting us keep stolen cargo. Poor guy is going to have a rough time with his next report." Dean snorted at this.

"Dude, you really think with all the other shit he has to explain that they will really care about some boxes? Nah, he wouldn't let us keep it because it wouldn't be civilized," Dean says bitterly.

Out of the corner of the window they see three torpedoes shot out of the Garrison ship at the house of horrors. The derelict ship explodes into embers silently. And finally burned into nothing.

"No ghosts. Job done,"mumbled Dean.

"No ghosts," Sam repeated softly and rested a hand on Gabriel's shoulder. Fed up with the dark atmosphere Dean abruptly turned to the comm. system to address the crew.

"Hello friendly campers. I'm sure you all noticed the spectacular mess left behind in a few of the rooms on the ship, so it's clean-up time for all available crew! Let's go before all that blood stains the upholstery."

A resounding groan was heard all through the ship from the crew.

 

Sam, Bobby, Anna, Gabriel and Balthazar were tackling the infirmary. The Novak brothers were arguing at one end of the room over how the surgical equipment should be organized in the drawer. At the other end of the room Anna was picking up fallen machinery and fixing the sheets on the medical bed. Near the door Sam and Bobby were scrubbing at the blood on the floor. Sam could tell that Bobby was still shocked at the events of the day.

"Hey, Bobby. Are you okay. I mean, I know this whole…thing came as kind of a shock…" Sam trailed off when he realized that he really had no idea what to say, but Bobby seemed to pick up the meaning just fine.

"Don't worry about me, boy. My faith may have been shaken a bit. But that was because I had always thought that souls could be saved, that no one was too lost to be found again….I'm a Sheppard. I was trained to believe that even black sheep could still be part of my flock. But don't you worry. I'm no softy and I ain't apposed to growing and learning, even at my old age. I'm not going to be caught off guard again!" Bobby huffed out a laugh at the end of his answer and pulled out two flasks from his back pocket and handed them to Sam. Sam just looked at the two flasks and raised both eyebrows at the Sheppard.

"So what is this, holy water?" Sam asked.

Bobby snorted, "The first one is. The other one is whiskey." Sam just raised his eyebrows at the preacher before responding, "This is how you are going to handle everything?"

"Yeah well, what can I say? Life just has that effect on people." Bobby just took back his flasks and continued to scrub at the floor, looking determined and not scared like most people would be. Dean was right. This guy had spunk.

Sam thought harder about the Preacher's approach as he too went back to scrubbing away. He had been worried that the Sheppard would lose his faith when he learned of what had happened with the man turned demon, but he was handling it really well. He had holy water, so he still had faith in his God. However, he also had whiskey, an alternative remedy for a human in pain, and a sign that even a preacher of God was still as human as the rest of the world. Sam might have been worried if it was anyone else besides the man next to him. But that was because even though Sam didn't have as much faith in God as Bobby did, he did have faith in humanity, and that was okay.

 

Meg and Chuck were working in silence in the hold of the Impala, re-organizing the crates that the Garrison soldiers had strewn around the room while looking for fugitives. Chuck was lifting a box of small gears, when is spilled out in front of him. His hands had been shaking ever since they told him what had happened to the man from the ship. The idea that a normal man could be turned into…that. He just couldn't absorb that at the moment and now he was dropping boxes.

He bent down with a whimpering sigh to pick up the spilled gears. Reaching out his hand to grab the first one, he was startled to see another hand reach for a gear next to him. He looked up to see Meg helping him pick up the pieces. She had dark circles under her eyes and wasn't saying anything or even looking to meet his eye.

She was scared too, he realized. He didn't know if it was because she was as startled at the idea of being turned into a mindless monster, or if it was her normal self preservation tactic causing the normally unseen emotion to come out.

"Umm…thanks Meg." He stuttered out.

She sneered and continued to pick up the gears, "Oh Chuck, please. Mind your blood pressure."

Then finished cleaning up quickly and parted from the room without saying another word to each other.

 

Dean and Cas were the only ones cleaning up in the kitchen. Cas was righting the overturned furniture and Dean was trying to clean out the blood from the floor. It was a companionable silence, except for Cas' humming, but Dean found that soothing. It had been a very long and stressful day after all with an emotional rollercoaster ride thrown in for kicks and giggles.

Dean was having trouble with one spot on the floor. He had been scrubbing at it for a while now, but he had hardly noticed that he had started to rub so hard that his hands were turning red. He didn't even notice when his eyes started to develop tears in the corners. He rubbed harder and harder at the spot of blood on his ship, trying to make it clean once again, but the stain seemed like it would be a blemish upon the tiles forever.

He startled when a hand closed over his, stopping his frantic scrubbing. He turned to see Cas' concerned face an inch away from his. It looked like he was trying to see past Dean's skin like he did with the demon when he was first brought on the ship and Dean could only feel dirty. Like Cas had said before, seeing nothing, being dirty, being empty inside. What kind of shadows where in Dean? Would he be stained by the blood he drew, forever? Would he become a monster too…

His train of thought was cut off by Cas squeezing the hand that held the bloodied rag for a second. He then released his grip and Dean lifted his hand and the rag to see that the blood had been removed from the floor. Cas then moved his hand to Dean's chest, where he had been slashed by the demon from before, healing the long scratch, removing the congealed blood and leaving only a torn shirt behind.

Their eyes met as Cas pulled back.

"Don't forget what I said, Dean Winchester. You are a good man." Dean could have sworn he heard Cas put emphasis on the word "man".

Cas stood up and started to wipe down the counter while continuing casually, "You know I had a dream last night? I dreamt that I was a frog and when I woke up, I wasn't sure if I was a man dreaming he was a frog, or a frog dreaming he was a man. Truthfully, I'm still not entirely sure. I may never be sure what I am. But I think that while I'm dreaming I'm human, I'll just continue to act human because it feels right. I'll worry about being an amphibian if I wake up to find that I have a taste for bugs and develop a magnificently long tongue."

Whatever Cas had meant by that, Dean found himself somewhat comforted by it. He felt human, that was for sure. Only a human could feel this kind of emotional turmoil and guilt. And if he woke up some day feeling like a monster….well, worrying about it would solve nothing. Might as well just clean up what he could, set his ship right, and move on to the next job.

Dean spotted another stain next to him, and started scrubbing once again.

He snorted to himself, "Cas, did you catch a glimpse of that guy by any chance? Dude was fugly…"

 

A ship drifts closer to the Garrison vessel. Upon reaching a certain distance, the ship releases large grappling hooks that latch onto the Garrison transport, stopping it from escaping.

Hendrickson watches out of the large window of his vessel as the croat ship draws itself closer. He could do nothing to stop the missiles that came at his ship. He could do nothing to save his crew.

The demons had found them and there was no escape.

Not two minutes later the Garrison ship was blown apart. Leaving nothing behind but space debris that drifted off into the black.


End file.
